Pulled muscle or bruised/cracked rib?

Painfully slow run today.  It was painful because I was in pain.  

Thursday I bent over a tall trash can to retrieve a plastic bottle (I'm recycling to help fund my Princess Half Marathon trip) and I felt and heard a crunching sound in my ribs/side.  I was a little sore and tender but didn’t give it much thought.  I woke up Friday feeling fine. In fact it never crossed my mind.  While I was running I thought I had a side stitch.  It seemed kind of odd because I haven’t gotten a side stich while running in a long time.  It wasn’t until I was near the end of my run that I put two and two together and realized the discomfort was from Thursday’s trash can grab. Depending on how I moved or sat I was a little uncomfortable Friday.  I did a little research on the internet and figured I had pulled a muscle or maybe bruised a rib.  Since the prognosis and recovery for either of them was the same (rest) I didn’t worry too much about it.  I had kind of hoped that resting it over the weekend would take care of it.  It gave me some discomfort over the weekend.  Again it seemed to depend on how I sat or moved.

Today I was uncomfortable during my warm-up walk.  I was a wee bit concerned.  As soon as I pushed off to start my run I knew I was in trouble.  It was somewhat painful to run.  I wasn’t able to stride out well.  I had to do little baby steps.  I had to run slowly.  I finished my run, 3.11 miles and walked home to cool down.  My side still hurt.  It really hurt when I sat down to take my shoes off.  At this point I figured maybe I should see a doctor. I called Kaiser and then called off work.

I’m not sure what I expected a doctor do to.  I guess I just wanted a doctor to tell me if this was a pulled muscle or a bruised/cracked rib.  I knew from my research on the internet that there was a good chance I wouldn’t get a definitive answer.  Well, I was right.  All the doctor could tell me was that my pain was located at the base of my rib cage.  I either pulled a muscle or cracked a rib (duh).  The treatment for either of them is the same.  Rest, take it easy, and take an anti-inflammatory.  I told him I would have thought if I had cracked a rib I’d be in more pain, but he said that’s not always the case.  His advice was to take it easy for a week and he gave me a prescription for an anti-inflammatory. (Which I didn’t fill).  

I guess only time will tell.  If it’s a pulled muscle it should improve in about a week.  If it’s a cracked rib it will take closer to a month to get better.  Grr!