Intramedullary rod

Former ortho trauma med device rep and we had a saying that there is no such thing as an easy hardware removal. I had my femoral nail removed after a year an they stripped out one of the screws an ended up taking 3 hours instead of 1. Having the right tools in the room and a patient surgeon will go a long way. If you don’t mind, post a picture of your x ray and I can help identify the nail or any other issues that might arise. 

In a typical nail removal, they screw in a shorter rod into the top of the nail, remove the interlocking screws, then backslap the nail out. They have a video on YouTube of that. 

https://youtube.com/shorts/CbE_K_BvbgI?si=v2ODSuSGRFaziYlF

Sorry guess I shouldn’t have posted it 😅

My femoral nail was from 2008, but only had it in a year. Depending on the surgeon preference, sometimes they put a end cap (cover) into the top of the nail that prevents bone from growing into the threads inside the top of the nail for easier removal down the road. The surgeon’s I worked with never used them but maybe yours did. If bone grows into the threads, they just have to clean it out good so the extraction device threads on good if that makes sense. 

That one looks pretty stuck in there! I’ve been an OR xray tech for 20some years and I feel like generally the slap hammer works. Of course not always. 

My friend just had his removed- had it for ~5 years. Was a couple month recovery and he seems to be doing good.

20 years it’s gonna be a tough removal. 

He had his removed to get ready for a knee replacement.

I had one removed in 2019.  The procedure was a breeze.  Outpatient, got dropped off in the morning, woke up a couple hours later and went home. I was on crutches for maybe a few days.  It's really weird looking at a leg that was broken once, and was just operated on and is swollen, and having it be strong enough to do whatever you want. But it is.  It just takes a bit to get the swelling and bruising down and then it's all good.  It is a pretty violent thing when they're getting that piece of metal out of you.  they have to beat on it and pry it out like pounding out a swingarm bolt on a 1982 bike that was never greased.  That's where the swelling and bruising comes from.

Mine was removed because after being in for 10 years I was getting knee pain.  It was instantly gone and has been fine since.  It also used to hurt with some moto boots that would push against my ankle where the screws were.  With those gone, that doesn't happen.  As a bonus I can now go through airport metal detectors without setting them off.

My surgeon said to make sure not to watch it on youtube until after the procedure was done.

Aside from the knee needing similar rehab, the rest was pretty ordinary. No crutches, but highly suggest to do heaps of rehab overall although if you're getting a knee replacement perhaps to sweat too much over it.

Broke in 2012, hardware out in 2014. Best of all, through the Australian public system... no private health insurance and I think it cost me about $20 in pain meds and $200 in shower and bathroom equipment rental.

I've had a lot of 'hardware' installed, and removed, in various parts of my body , over a few decades.

One BIG thing is to  listen to the Ortho about the time needed for your bone to regain itself. 

As in, fill / grow back where screws have been - as in Holes left by their removal, and where Rods / pins have been, the bone growing back to it's 'normal' wall thickness. They can be quite, quite thin where a Rod has pin fitted..

So many people end up breaking the same area, from thinking everything is strong enough, after the hardware is removed. 

I had a Lot of hardware in my LH leg, installed in , I think, 1981, some of it long since unable to be removed. And, the placement of a few screws  that remain in situ - all the way, side to side on my Tibia - means I often get Stress Fractures. I'll ( semi) jokingly say that I have  a broken leg,  with the advent of serious pain, after a particularly stressful event, and, it would be confirmed by X Rays.

Then there's the various staples and screws that have been put in for each of the 3  recos on that side knee. Most still in there. 

Right now, I've got that problem - Huge pain in my Tibia.  Though, I've not really hammered to bloody thing, recently. I guess it's age now, and the loss of bone density that comes with it. Off to Hospital tomorrow for an assessment as to what's going on. Getting Old, and Fragile, absolutely sucks.