Rod Inside Tibia

monti248
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monti248
Hey guys, so 5 years ago I had broken my Tib Fib riding and had gotten a rod put in which is pretty standard now. Last few months/years (off and on) have been giving me a lot of pain and aches from it so I'm planning on having it removed. Curious on other peoples inputs on if they have had their rods and hardware taken out and what was your down time as far as work & riding.

Any input would be rad!
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p3fab
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p3fab 12/16/2018 3:48pm
12/16/2018 3:48pm
I have a tiba rod as well. I looked into getting it removed but everything I saw turned me away. The recovery is long especially after 5 years. If you really want to do it don’t look it up on YouTube. Where is the pain your having located? Most on mine is in the knee but it comes and goes. Wearing good shoes seems to make all the difference for me.
Xavier
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Xavier 12/16/2018 3:56pm
12/16/2018 3:56pm
I had one 30 years ago and got it out after two years, all benefit. Unfortunately, I got another one yesterday, same leg. If it bothers me as much as it did then, I'll get it removed as well.
crf250pilot
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crf250pilot 12/16/2018 6:18pm
12/16/2018 6:18pm
Had my rod and plate removed from tib/fib break a few years after the injury and never felt better. Rod had my ankle all stiffened up all the time. I recommend removal.
monti248
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monti248 12/16/2018 8:11pm
12/16/2018 8:11pm
crf250pilot wrote:
Had my rod and plate removed from tib/fib break a few years after the injury and never felt better. Rod had my ankle all stiffened up...
Had my rod and plate removed from tib/fib break a few years after the injury and never felt better. Rod had my ankle all stiffened up all the time. I recommend removal.
Good to know. How long was your recovery. Im in construction so i can miss a couple days but not weeks.

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monti248
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monti248 12/16/2018 8:13pm
12/16/2018 8:13pm
p3fab wrote:
I have a tiba rod as well. I looked into getting it removed but everything I saw turned me away. The recovery is long especially after...
I have a tiba rod as well. I looked into getting it removed but everything I saw turned me away. The recovery is long especially after 5 years. If you really want to do it don’t look it up on YouTube. Where is the pain your having located? Most on mine is in the knee but it comes and goes. Wearing good shoes seems to make all the difference for me.
I have seen plenty of videos of them putting them in and taking them out. Alot of my pain used to be in my knee, but over the last year its all central and will randomly start throbbing, its strange. I do tend to have stiffness in my ankle from it too.
Bearuno
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Bearuno 12/16/2018 8:19pm
12/16/2018 8:19pm
Be careful with recovery.

I know a few blokes that have had rods removed, and went riding far to early. Holes from retaining screws and the rod itself need to heal up, as well as the bone itself needing to regain thickness where a rod has been.

They've snapped their bones like twigs, to have to restart it all again.

Make sure you think about things. A month or two extra off the bike / other things, could mean you've a good, strong bone, that you'll not have problems with. Or, you could end up like one of my Dads mates, years ago, who lost his leg through not letting things heal up after hardware extraction.
crf250pilot
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crf250pilot 12/16/2018 8:21pm
12/16/2018 8:21pm
crf250pilot wrote:
Had my rod and plate removed from tib/fib break a few years after the injury and never felt better. Rod had my ankle all stiffened up...
Had my rod and plate removed from tib/fib break a few years after the injury and never felt better. Rod had my ankle all stiffened up all the time. I recommend removal.
monti248 wrote:
Good to know. How long was your recovery. Im in construction so i can miss a couple days but not weeks.
Recovery wasn't too long. Most of the time was waiting to heal enough to get staples removed from the incision.
racerhansen 12/16/2018 9:55pm
12/16/2018 9:55pm
I had the rod in for about two years. getting it out was a great relief. Gained a lot of mobility in the knee and ankle. I think I had about 4-5 weeks of downtime after they removed it. It was no big deal because we had snow here during that time anyway.
FWYT
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FWYT 12/16/2018 11:25pm
12/16/2018 11:25pm
I had a rod in my tibia for a couple few years. It never gave me any issues.
Got it taken out and, I think, I was out of work for just a couple days and then fairly sore for a week or so
but no problems. I'm trying to recall as this was about 20 years ago but I don't think I rode for about a month
but it's never been an issue at all.
Xavier
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Xavier 12/17/2018 5:42am
12/17/2018 5:42am
My first rod 30 years ago was actually preventing part of the bone to fully regrow (it was a "spiroid fracture", foot at 90° angle from leg). It was strong but x-rays were showing some bone missing. Strangely, it re-grew after the rod was taken out and all was good until I hit a tree 2 days ago (this time straight fracture).
JohnnyD13
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JohnnyD13 12/17/2018 6:41am
12/17/2018 6:41am
I’ve had a rod in for 15 years. I really hurts on impacts, sometimes running. Right where the screws are it’s really sensitive. It sounds like removal is a good idea. Just bought a 19 kx450. Maybe wait till it breaks
hoodsmoto
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hoodsmoto 12/17/2018 7:23am
12/17/2018 7:23am
Broke my Tib/fib in 03. Had the Rod removed in 07 as soon as I could. It was causing a lot of pain when running/jumping/cycling and riding. With it removed, I was able to do anything I could before the break.

Recovery was only a few months total. I was back to work in less than two weeks. Although that depends on the type of work you do.



WhiteTaco
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WhiteTaco 12/17/2018 7:46am
12/17/2018 7:46am
I’ve had one since 2005. Haven’t really had any issues other than if pressing on the screw locations. Sometimes moto boots will irritate those spots after a long weekend of riding. Like P3fab said, I thought of having it removed until I watched the YouTube videos.
ti473
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ti473 12/17/2018 8:40am
12/17/2018 8:40am
I have had a rod in my humerus since 01 and one in my tibia since 05. After two unsuccessful surgeries to try removing the one in my arm (bone had fused with the titanium), I never even bothered with the tibia rod. I did have my screws removed during a later ACL/meniscus surgery though. I would recommend at least that. My knee is a little clickty clackity now but I think it's more from the ACL/meniscus than the rod. I can still run/cycle with no major problems though. If you have the chance to remove it I would do it though.
xracerphx
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xracerphx 12/17/2018 10:33am
12/17/2018 10:33am Edited Date/Time 12/17/2018 10:33am
I had a Tib/Fib in 1998. It bothered me the 1st couple years. There were screws at the top of the rod and also near my ankle that kept it in place. I had those removed after a couple years and that made a HUGE difference. Almost zero recovery time needed. 20 years later, I know it is there, but does not bother me unless I do some marathon run. Good luck..
monti248
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monti248 12/18/2018 6:39pm
12/18/2018 6:39pm
Thanks a ton for all the input guys. From the sounds of everybody's responses I'm gonna go with my original plan of having it removed. My plan was to have the rod removed this winter as I'm in the Excavation business for work so things tend to get slow and I'm usually in the cab of a machine instead of labor intensive work and can get the time off. Doing a Cali ride trip though here in a few weeks so will probably wait until spring to get it pulled out. All my pains and aches seem to be the same as mosts such as pain from Running, Jumping, Riding, Snowboarding so hearing positive feed back post rod removal gives me some relief. Ill probably touch back in a few months later post surgery. Thanks guys!!!
1
quadzrulebro 12/18/2018 7:50pm
12/18/2018 7:50pm
After reading all of this, I feel lucky! The only time mine ever bothers me is if I go running...so...I don’t go running.
Crisp BRAAAP! 12/18/2018 8:34pm
12/18/2018 8:34pm
I've got nothing productive to add other than, Good Luck! Injuries suck.

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racerx217
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racerx217 12/19/2018 2:51pm
12/19/2018 2:51pm
Not a rod but i had a plated tib, I got it out and the quality of life improved 10x. I was back riding 5 days latter.
ACBraap
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ACBraap 12/19/2018 3:59pm
12/19/2018 3:59pm
I have a rod in my right tib/fib, and a plate just above the ankle as well. There are two screws on the inside of my ankle that have been troublesome when riding - they are close enough to the skin that they would bang against the boot and be painful. Overall no real problems though, and my ortho said unless problematic, no reason to remove them.

Now, 10 years later, still no problem with the hardware, but a recent visit with a knee doc had him point out that the knee replacement I'll likely eventually need will be problematic with the tibia rod in place. They can extend too far up and block the work that needs to be done for that. So removing it may happen at some point.

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