Rib injury from... A JAB??

im a big dude, bout 6'2 300 lbs

ive returned to the gym finally after having a chance (recovering from a ton of life injuries/bad luck) and after a few months, was finally able to spar again.

Sparred with a first timer so I wasn't too worried - didn't plan on taking his head off or anything

coach usually has new guys go one round jabs only, 2nd round both hands

well i didnt get hit at all during the 2 rounds, except for one shot... 1 jab to the ribs during that jab round..

it kinda "hurt" for a split second at the time, but i thought nothing of it... til i got out of the ring and tried to hit up the heavy bag and found out damn, this kinda sucks!

dude was also smaller, maybe around 210-220 max id say

question is... is it really POSSIBLE to get hurt from a jab to the ribs?

it's been like 3 weeks now and theres still pain.. i didnt expect this to last so long - its like a couple inches down from my left nipple... and maybe 1 inch over to the left from there...

its killing me cuz i wanna get back in the gym and continue to train, but ive broken ribs at work before and dont really wanna make this take longer than it should cuz i know rib injuries can take forever...

this doesn't feel nearly as severe as a real break - little pain when i cough or sneeze, but its def there, and some ibuprofen pretty much makes the pain non existent..

jus curious if im gettin fragile in my old age, or if this does indeed happen? its been a realllly long time

im assuming just bruised ribs, and didnt wanna go to a doc as i know they aren't gonna do anything anyway - but have been throwin about the idea now since im goin nuts sitting here when i could be at the gym..

sorry if this is an ignorant question - this is the first time ive ever been hit to the body, and not really able to gauge what i should be feeling from these shots....

Dude i need to ask you a few questions, depending on your answers you'll figure out what you have.

but please don't continue taking painkillers for such a prolonged period of time without consulting a Dr, three weeks is a lot of time on acamol (parasetamal) ibu is a hell of alot heavier on your liver.

1) after getting hit did you notice a bruise of any kind?
2) are you having difficulty taking in deep breaths, cough, sneezing (any form of pain during those?)
3) while touching the area do you feel it's any diffrent from the other side of your body (discount if you have any old injury in either area)
4) can you take a good breath with your arms held over your head.
5) does it hurt while you're doing dips?

if you've answeared positive to one or more of these questions you've probably got cracked or possibly even broken ribs, you mentioned you've been having this pain for three weeks, so I do believe it is time to go get a chest X-ray, two angels at the very least at the very least go get checked out by a Dr whom can give you a diffinitive answer after an exmination, (it beats being question by a guy a thousand miles away over the internet).

Your old age migh make you more prone to being hurt and take longer to heal but other than that nothing

as a side note it's very possible to get hurt from any blow given to you, be it a jab, an uppercut or a knee.
even if the man whom punched you was two thirds your size he could still transfer enough enrgy to crack a rib with ease.
the guy who broke my ribs did it with a knee to the chest, and it only hurt a bit at the time but the next morning i needed help getting up out of bed and he was only 170 pounds (I'm somewhere around 120-130).

the writer of this post is an expeirinced medic on active duty.

Darn right you can have an injury to the rib from a jab. We had it happen just a few weeks ago to one of our pro fighters who was letting an older teen do some sparring with him. The pro admitted he was being laid back, getting lazy and not paying attention when the kid landed a jab to his side and actually fractured two ribs. The freaky thing was this kid had no punching power ...but for that one time, he actually got the balance, the shift, and put the proper weight into a proper punch. It happened so fast, we thought the pro was kidding about being hurt.

Once we had another pro fighter playing around with a 14 year old and got into that "Rocky" stupidity of taking his hands down and letting the kid hit him in the face saying "that don't hurt at all" and "is that all you got". Then the kid connected jurt right with his chin and actually knocked him out. Now the fighter has to endure the ribbing of being punched out by a kid.

Lesson learned: Freaky things can happen.