I once dinged aka cracked my ribs while fooling around on a balance board. What is a balance board you ask? It is a piece of plywood placed on top of a large diameter PVC pipe and you practice your balance for surfing. I am not a surfer, but a surfer challenged me to it and I of course accepted said challenge. The key to the whole deal is you go with the motion of the board. Do not try and fight it otherwise you will get bucked off. I fought it, lost, and ended up falling to the ground parallel to it. I was not able to break my fall with anything and my ribs suffered. It made everything difficult to say the least. The hospital said they could not do anything for me, not even tape me up.
Another key to this....do not attempt while hanging out with Captain Morgan
At that point in my life, I was participating in a rowing club and we had a race scheduled that weekend. For those who have never rowed it is a very physically demanding activity requiring a full range of motion with your arms, back, and legs. Unfortunately as I had 7 other people counting on me, I could not drop out of the race. Crew races are generally painfull experiences, but to do so with cracked ribs was insane. At the end of the race I was practically in tears.
Cracking my ribs was the most painfull experience of my life. Breathing hurt. Broke my nose prior to that and to be honest I would rather break my nose 10 times over before I hurt my ribs again.