Need some advice from my fellow MX'ers. Who has had a rod in their Tibia that they had removed? or left it in? Why for either decision? I need to have the plate and screws removed from my Fibula and need to decide what to do with the rod in my Tib. Should it stay or should it go?

What ever your doctor suggests just do the opposite. LOL JK Seriously what does your doctor recommend what are the pluses and negatives of both. I have a pin (actually a 4 inch screw) in my foot that has been there for about 12 years and it only bothers me when it gets really cold out. Yeah I know that comment makes me sound old huh. Well its true. I chose to keep the pin in for extra support for the bone (my doctors recommendation).

My Doctor said either way there are plus and minus. The rod is giving the bone more strength, but if there is a large impact again, the rod could bend, then there could be big problems. He said once the holes heal and the bone fills in, it will be stronger then before. The downside is where the screws were, there may be some weakness. He has kind of left it up to me

Thats kinda the input I got from my doc. Did he say anything about physical therapy if you have the screws removed to strengthen it back up? Or can you have the rod removed and leave the screws in? I opted to leave the screw in my foot because I figured that if something happend bad enough to bend the screw its going to be bad enough that it wont matter if it was in or not. I prefer not to have metal inside my body I'll say that.

Disturbed... it depends. I had mine removed but it was mainly because I was chasing something else in my ankle. It didn't bother me to much (had it in for 1.5yrs) but the screws did so I had them removed first. then when I went in for surgery on the ankle they thought it would be good to get it out of the way in case they had to rebreak a displaced piece of my ankle (which they didn't do, long story)... One thing though is my knee never has been the same from the break and I think it traumatizes the knee again when they split it open and move everything around to remove the rod. If you don't need it out and it doesn't bother you, leave it in. But this is coming from someone who had his removed and is in a cast now...

I know others who removed and left it in... personal preference I think. Get my # from Aaron if you want or write back.

Good luck!

I hear you about the knee, it has not been the same since my surgery. My break was so close to my ankle that if the screws that hold the rod are removed, my doctor is afraid that the rod may impact it self through the bottom of my tib and effect my ankle. I am definitely leaning towards leaving the rod in and just having the plate removed. Thanks for the input.

one thing you should think about is the flex of the bone and the flex of the rod????
i've seen peolpe leave them in and 1 to 2 years later streatch the same leg and just grenade the bone away from the rod because they flex differently. i've had anchors in the middle of bones holding them together that have worked their way through and floated under my skin giving me staph infection,4 extra days in the hospital, my opinion is remove it before your body pushes it out or you flex wrong.

If the break was close to the ankle like you said (as was mine), then maybe you should get it removed. The ankle is what bothered me for so long after healing.

Also, Steve brings up a good point to think about as well...

Just do it all at once. You won't be out of action for more than a few weeks I bet...

Compound fracture of my right tib/fib in 03 (right at the bottom of CTi2 knee brace above ankle), rod has been in for 6 years with no problems. Of course I'd like to not have it in there, but at this point I don't really want to go through the surgery, recovery, money, and time to have it removed. Doctors insisted that there was no reason to remove it unless it was causing problems.

Left Tib fracture upper plateau 1980 or there abouts.

My pop (WWII vet) said take it out. He had a migrating piece of wire removed from his knee and said it was best thing he ever did. I left my stuff in. Doc said as long as I could stand the pain it was ok. Come to find out that pain's seasonal and that with enough Aspirin and Ibuprofen it aint to bad for a few days a year. Spring time is when I hurt the most. Clear skys Cloudy skys come on make up yer mind. That whole barometric pressure change thing is what's its all about for me. Forget the temp change thing peps talk about, aint true. It's all Baro just like engines and Fuel Injection.

Honestly, it's only a few days a year anymore that I'd like to hack off a lower limb and be done with it, but that's a whole lot better than the first few years when spikes of pain happened often. Back then it felt like a dog chewing on my leg bone and I'd wabble. Only remember once when I almost buckled under that. In this case older seems better and today my pain is much less. Age may indeed have an advantage here.

My pins, screws and plates remain intact to this day. Think I'll leave'em, I can live with it.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Workman #21,

My son broke his tib/fib last year (1/12/08) at Pasco Arenacross. He had 3 plates and 15 screws put in, right near the ankle. Now he's only 15, but when we bumped into the ortho at the hospital visiting an injured rider, Cody said 2 of the screws were bothering him, he could feel them, on 11/4/08 he had EVERYTHING taken out.-Dr said no need to leave any of it in.

He had to be off the leg for a month, but he's been snowboarding the past 3 weeks without a complaint one. He's working on us now to let him race next weekend, but his Dad is quite apprehensive about it. (He did race all year with the hardware in).

Good luck with whatever decision you make!
Dawn