U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin has cracked a rib of U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill while performing the Heimlich maneuver on the fellow Democrat when she began choking.

A spokesman for Manchin tells the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that McCaskill began choking during a luncheon for Senate Democrats on Thursday. Manchin, from West Virginia, used the Heimlich maneuver to dislodge the blockage in McCaskill’s throat, but he cracked a rib in the process.

McCaskill says she’s “really grateful to Joe.” She adds that “a little bit of a sore rib for a couple of weeks is no big deal.”

The Missouri senator said she would not be hugging people when she appeared at a dinner in St. Louis late last week.

(AP)