The dangers of taking exercise too far – after an elite athlete fractured a rib bouncing a 120-pound barbell on her chest

A simple change in a training routine resulted in an elite athlete suffering a dangerous injury.

A 24-year-old sprinter modified her bench press technique slightly so that she bounced a barbell on her ribcage.

But when she started experiencing persistent chest pain, she visited a doctor and underwent a body scan to determine the cause of her pain.

The scan revealed stress fractures in one of her ribs, due to the repetitive impact of the 120-pound weight on her chest.

While stress fractures – small cracks that occur in a bone – are common in athletes, those of the rib are not as common but can cause damage to nearby organs, reduced lung function and chronic pain.

Up to 4.4 percent of athletes report suffering from the injury.

Traumatic rib fractures caused by strength-training exercises have been reported previously, according to researchers who detailed the woman’s case report, but only a handful have occurred with bench pressing.

A bench press, also called a chest press, is an exercise movement in which a person lies horizontally on a bench and presses a bar with weighted plates on it directly above their chest.

The unnamed woman in the case report was undergoing rehabilitation for pain in her Achilles tendon after a previous injury and had increased her upper body workouts as a result.

She did bench presses three times a week instead of once a week as usual, and lifted up to 50kg – the equivalent of her body weight. But she started bouncing the barbell on her ribcage to make lifting easier.

However, two weeks after making this change, she began to feel increasing pain in her chest, which worsened when she sneezed.

She went to her doctor, who found nothing abnormal on a chest X-ray or an ECG – a test that records the electrical signals in the heart to detect heart problems.

As a result, she continued to bench press for several more weeks.

The pain continued and became more severe and she went to the hospital. A CT scan revealed a fracture in her fifth rib on the right side, right where the barbell made an impression during her workouts.

Her injury forced her to give up bench pressing and she resorted to running, stationary bike and lower body strength training.

After healing her rib for six weeks, the athlete began to slowly increase the intensity of workouts and six weeks later she returned to full training and experienced no further symptoms.

Normally, not much can be done for an injured rib unless the fracture is so severe that the bone moves out of its normal position and alignment, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Treatment is usually limited to providing adequate pain control, avoiding strenuous activities, and allowing it to heal on its own.

The researchers concluded that when athletes complain of chest pain, a rib fracture should be considered a possible injury, especially if they have been doing bench presses.

They also warned that using bouncing movements during the bench press could pose safety issues and increase the risk of rib stress fractures.

While non-displaced rib fractures heal within six weeks, more serious rib injuries can lead to a host of serious health problems, including damage to nearby organs, reduced lung capacity, chest infections, chronic pain and flail chest pain – one of the most serious side effects that can occur. can occur if multiple ribs are broken.

It occurs when part of the chest wall is destabilized, usually due to severe trauma, and has a high mortality rate.

The patient was documented in SAGE Open Medical Case Reports.