I've broken plenty of ribs, the rib injury hands down was the most painful was having bars go between my ribs. They were separated and not broke or fractured, just tore the meat in between, it didn't even break the skin, although I swore it felt like I had a flap of skin missing. I had such discoloring of the skin, that section I looked like a corpse. Plus I had to have my arm strapped down to limit movement. The healing process was roughly 5 or 6 months.