Yikes indeed a lot of ribs to break. It will hurt to breathe deep but you should...also hurt to cough but that clears lungs and bronchi and is a good way to help prevent pneumonia. I feel for you. Must have been a horrible accident.

I broke three ribs a few years back, and it was quite a while before I could even type "I broke ribs!" here on Pelican.

Slept in a reclining chair for a while, as it was way too painful to try to lay down, and worse to get up.

Took a while, but there is no longer any clue I was once injured. Back to 100%.

Thanks for the well wishes fellas. I was riding my 04 R1150R, dumb little 35 mph get off
Pick up in front of me stopped short without signaling but I should have been paying better attention. I just landed real hard on my shoulder. I'm sleeping in a recliner, using the incentive
breathing thing, taking alot of pills. I guess I'm just going to have to be patient, not my strong suite

This. It is just going to hurt. You can't stop it. Stay away from pain killers.

Pain pills are a balancing act. Assuming they contain opiates (hydrocodone, oxycodone...), they can cause some serious constipation. Other anti-inflammatory medications can cause GI bleeding over time. Not taking them can limit deep breathing and coughing (a set-up for pneumonia) or limit activity (a set-up for leg clots-->pulmonary embolism-->a potentially life- threatening situation.

If the OP is having problems or concerns with pain control, he needs to work with his doc.

Rib injuries are tough. I thought one broken rib was bad...best wishes on getting control of the pain Dan.

One less serious, but still worth remembering, downside of good pain pills is the agony that kicks in 6 hours after the magic pills let you sleep in a position that you really shouldn't have been in to begin with.

(broke some ribs in April and still feeling it...)

Pressure dressings, like a very large ace wrap can really help "splint" the injury and make breathing and moving around easier. Pain meds are very useful, too!

Follow the Doctor's orders. I broke 3 a couple of years ago. I was taking it easy at work the next 3 days, using chain falls & hoists to do things that I would normally do. I thought I had been breathing regularly until I twisted the wrong way & got so much pain that fast shallow gasps were all that I could do. That night I was diagnozed with broken ribs & slight case of pnuemonia.

Was told to take 4 deep breathes every 1/2 hour.

For constipation try Colace (or rather to prevent it). If you've already got it, Milk of Magnesia --> Mag Citrate. Stay hydrated, regardless.

Careful with the splinting. You want as little pain as possible, obviously. But you don't want to restrict chest wall excursion, because of the risk of pneumonia. Pneumonia is not a trivial risk in your type of injury.

I cracked my scapula once. Not easy to do, but I did it. As it turns out, the marrow of flat bones is different from round ones. It was.....uncomfortable. After, years after, I would sometimes get spasms there due to the scar tissue.