I have a lot of recent experience with hurting my ribs including:
2/29/16 Hit an unexpected wind or grooming lip at Ashland where I was skiing in the middle of 12 hr drive from Vancouver, WA to San Jose, CA. See
http://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12075 for some details. I skied a week later at Kirkwood, although
report says I was still feeling it
4/15/17 Misstep getting out of hot tub. I knew I scraped my arm, but didn't notice ribs until middle of the night. See
http://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12398 - I skied 12 runs the next day which was Kirkwood's closing day although was definitely hurting and looking for smoothest snow. I
skied again less than 5 weeks later at Squaw.
6/30/17 This was the big one as I broke collarbone, ribs 3-6 and partially collapsed a lung in a dirt bike (motorcycle) crash. I was planning to ski Squaw over the weekend of the 4th, but instead was in the hospital with a vent and suction in my chest. I was released on the 4th after being admitted on the 1st. While some previous posts recommend drinking, you first need to get off the strong pain meds which do not mix well with alcohol.
Besides being retired which meant no hurry to get back to work, what really helped me was having a hospital bed at home for a little over a month as it would have been nearly impossible to get up without being able to raise part of the bed and use rails to assist.
1/8/18 Jumped edge of road and sailed farther than expected, landing unevenly in soft snow. A binding released which led to crash on groomed. I must have caught pole in ribs (same side as on 6/30) which knocked wind out of me. I skied a couple of more runs, then skied 7" of heavy powder at Kirkwood the next day (where I crashed on same ribs after a pre-release in powder and pocket dialed my wife while going down). Then I drove to/from Mammoth
where I skied 10-18" new for two days although I was having a hard time getting enough air to talk the first day and it took a lot of ibuprofen to get through the second day. Then I skied part of another day at Heavenly with a friend before driving home. I got checked the next day when I visited friend who had major surgery at hospital near home. The Dr. said lung was fine and I could have X-rays although whether I had broken or bruised ribs or pulled a muscle, the treatment was the same so I declined more radiation. Dr. also recommended I not go skiing the next week as planned. I must not have broken a rib as I mountain biked in Mexico 2 1/2 weeks later although I can still feel some tenderness in ribs.
Lessons learned: Anticipate and react way before crashing on dirt bike as combination of speed and hard surface really hurts. I also bought better helmet and a chest/rib/shoulder protector. On skis I have dialed it back a little, even though I skied a lot of powder trees in the last month and Alta's Main Chute off top of Baldy during Gathering. I have not increased my binding setting which could be higher as skis do not usually release unnecesarily.