Rand Paul (broken bones)

[lauradi7dw]

I can't say whether his neighbor's attack was motivated by lawn care or politics, but it's been interesting to see what people think could cause a bunch of broken ribs. Someone on twitter the other day said it seemed more like being struck by a baseball bat, but I can believe that someone tackling a person and falling with him onto a lawn mower, for example, could cause such serious damage. My father broke his clavicle by tripping and falling onto a space heater - the metal part was solid enough not to give, I guess. I broke a rib years ago in what I consider my own fault - I was wearing flip flops while carrying a loaded recycle bin down the steps in the rain. I slipped and fell backwards onto the steps, with the bin landing on my chest. It wasn't a front rib that broke, it was the one that connected with the edge of the step. Suddenly I'm seeing this as a physics problem - the weight of the bin plus gravity banging me down. I haven't worn flip flops in the rain or on steps since. One rib that wasn't displaced is clearly less harmful than his injuries.
Laura to doctor: "I can make it squish by pushing on it."
Doctor: "Don't do that." Then she said "it will hurt for six weeks, and then it will be fine." Accurate, but Paul's will take longer, and my lungs were not affected.

Comments

[nosrednayduj]

Ken cracked a rib by leaning over the edge of the boat (on the trailer) to reach something on the floor of the boat. He couldn't quite reach, so he lifted his toes off the ground to lever himself in a few inches more, so all his weight was on the rib at the edge of the boat. Like yours it wasn't displaced so he didn't need any real medical care, but he's been careful since then about where his weight goes.

Strong Women, Strong Bones says with osteoporosis you can break vertebrae just by bending over and ribs by being hugged too hard. Maybe Paul has weak bones.

[lauradi7dw]

My mother is convinced that when she broke a cervical vertebra in a car crash ( 87 at the time) it was the fault of the side airbag hitting her rather than the jolt of the other car. During the imaging af the hospital, she learned that she had a couple of healed ribs. Upon reflection, she decided that she had broken them when she tripped and fell into a table. I am really paranoid about falling.