should I get rod removed from femur

I'm no doctor, but if I were to guess, I'd guess to listen to the person who has dedicated their life to helping people recover from broken bones... you know, like an othro specialist.

Man I say if your in a position for down time then I would remove it. Only if it is causing you that much discomfort. If its uncomfortable now then imagine down the road when your body starts getting old and the discomfort levels rise. Theres pros and cons to both sides I think. Obviously your specialist knows what's best but nobody knows how you feel like you do.

Take it out!!! I left mine in too long and end up in lots of pain. I went in a couple years ago to have it removed and it is now permanently lodged inside my femur.... The bolts did come out and that helped with the pain a little.... Looking back I wish I had it removed the year after healing. I need a hip replacement and the rod is smack dab in the way...

I had mine taken out , I went back riding and the rick of breaking it with he rod I. There and making a mess of it was too large

I would go see several Doctors and then make the best informed decision. Maybe there is a compromise where they can trim the rod for comfort?

Did the doctor say it would be back to 100% after the downtime?

Will you be able to really stay off the bike and restrain from other activities that could possibly cause a re-break for the allotted time?

YES YES YES. My rod wiggled a little bit and caused pain 7 years after my broken femur. I got it removed and it made a nice difference. If you can't get the rod removed....start with the screws and smaller hardware.

I guess it’s different for individual cases. I have an internal rod with 4 screws on my left femur, and I really don’t have any issues with it. I work out 5-6 days a week plus riding every weekend and I barely notice it. It’s been almost 2 years since I broke it FYI.

I just saw my Dr yesterday and reminded him of Vital's wide views on the subject.
Had a "surgical correction" to my femur in September 2018. Senior teaching physician said 5 years then take it out, other younger Dr said only do it if you have pain or some reason to remove it.

RickyRoss519 wrote:

Man I say if your in a position for down time then I would remove it. Only if it is causing you that much discomfort. If its uncomfortable now then imagine down the road when your body starts getting old and the discomfort levels rise. Theres pros and cons to both sides I think. Obviously your specialist knows what's best but nobody knows how you feel like you do.

I agree,I have a rod in my left femur now for 16 yrs,no discomfort so far...but every person is different

My son had his removed when it started to cause complications (where the rod was inserted on the side of the knee area, it started to rub and cause swelling). I would guess the longer it is in, the more difficult it would be to remove. Most doctors recommend avoiding surgical procedures where possible due to the potential risk associated no matter how small it might be. I would rather have the foreign material removed from my body, but that is just me.

I had the surgery type on both femurs where they just put 2 criss cross rods in the femur to straighten them and hold them in place while healing. I believe this was done due to my age at 15 and still slowly growing.
Even with no bolts or screws I had terrible discomfort with the rods and the pain in my hips and knees. 1 year post surgery they were removed with no problems except my left hip was never the same and still late 20's have pain in my hip when at certain positions sitting and riding without the rods almost 15 yrs later.

MotoRow wrote:

hey guys,

I went to see my ortho specialist this morning and asked him about removing the rod and bolt from my femur. He said that they recommend not to and complications could be rebreaking the bone and possible infection. I know any surgery can have its complication so it scares me a lot but I also don't enjoy the daily discomfort in the hip as the top of the rod seems to rub near my butt. I was wondering what people suggest and if they have good outcomes from removing all hardware? he also said bone marrow would take 2 years to fully develop back and he wouldn't suggest riding until then if I had the surgery.

any help would be much appreciated as it is a hard decision

cheers boys

Interesting, my Dr. told me the bone itself should be good to go and marrow would only take weeks to develop after rod is removed. Said the only downtime would be waiting for the incisions to heal. I occasionally think about getting mine out for fear of it causing issues down the road.

I had terrible discomfort and pain from the rod inside my left femur. My Ortho Doc happily removed it 4 years after it was put in. Instant pain relief once it healed and all the the surgery staples were removed.

He did say they had a hard time removing it though as bone had grown around the end. Told me they had to have a bunch of hands to hold me as the dent-puller type instrument used to remove it was getting a workout.

DO NOT ASK A DOCTOR Just ask the Vital Brain Trust

Mine has been in for nearly 10 years and I have no discomfort. I have no inquired about it recently, but I remember something along the lines of an 8-10 week recovery time, all due to the muscle damage. That was years ago, so a less invasive technique may now exist.

I had my rod removed after (roughly) 14 months.

Also had discomfort in the acetabulum area (ball & socket) and it was almost immediate relief once the rod was removed.

I was competing seriously at the time and my ortho surgeon warned me of the potential complications should I jack the femur again (with the rod still inside)

Never had a problem thereafter but keep in mind, each case is different. Heal up and good luck going forward.

start a poll on vital, 100% go with that. don't look back.

Had mine taken out last week, approximately one year after the initial surgery.
Staples are coming out tomorrow.
I didn’t think I noticed it in there much, but now after it’s out I realise the constant dull, stiff pressing feeling has gone.
My surgeon recommended I get it out as soon as possible. It’s a foreign object that has served its purpose.

tempura wrote:

Had mine taken out last week, approximately one year after the initial surgery.
Staples are coming out tomorrow.
I didn’t think I noticed it in there much, but now after it’s out I realise the constant dull, stiff pressing feeling has gone.
My surgeon recommended I get it out as soon as possible. It’s a foreign object that has served its purpose.

TJ 755 wrote:

No matter how I try, I can’t get this video out of my head. Why in God’s name did I watch that???

Get a second opinion from another ortho.
Do not take medical, legal, financial or any serious advice from Vital.

A friend of mine had the hardware below in his ankle for two years. For the entire two years, he always complained about not feeling the best and always kind of feeling lethargic. He always just chalked it up to the fact that he had a kid around the same time. He also was having daily pain and it was worse when it rained.

Once he got all the hardware removed he almost instantly felt better and had more energy and wasn't lethargic. The doctor suggested that his body was most likely rejecting the hardware and causing the problems.

If it's causing you daily pain I'd personally get it removed, but getting a second opinion might be good as well. I'd recommend someone that specializes in sports or complicated situations for the second opinion.

One thing to remember is a lot of doctors have a stigma about motorcycle riders so they instantly think you're a dumbass for doing what you do and will recommend what's "best", which applies to normal people. My friend's doctor was excited about fixing him up and getting him back out riding. The doctor made it a personal goal to get him back on the bike. Apparently, he was bored with just fixing up all the old people with knee replacements or something lol.

Good luck and I hope it works out!!!

My ortho always said if it bothers you take it out. If it don’t, leave it. That being said I still got all my hardware. 15 years worth....doesn’t bother me tho. My ortho didn’t do your surgery either so, there’s that.

My rod ( second one ) doesn't bother me hardly at all, every once in while itll sting in that leg for few hours or something weird but otherwise its been fine.

Now I had to have 2 surgeries on mine because it never healed after the 1st time and I broke 3 screws off in it and the doctor that did the 1st surgery was clueless and told me I had a non union of the bone and it might not ever heal, I said fuck you.

Went to another doctor that had fixed me up before and he said its not healing because its not stable enough, he took the rod out which I guess was a bitch because of the broken screws, and reamed my femur bone out and installed a 2 mm larger rod with new larger screws thru it.

2 months after that seconds surgery it was completely healed and I had no pain, I wasted like 7-8 months before hand with the other bullshit.

After all that I really figured I was going to have problems based on others always complaining about theres, but like I said its been fine, I had a scare 2 years ago in a big crash and it hurt after that, but had it checked out and just 1 of the screws was broke.

So yeah my leg has a rod and now 3 broken screw pieces in it and 2 non broken screws LOL.

I’ve had no problems
- I’ve had mine for about 7 years. Clean fast break of my left femur from direct impact from my bike.
Rod and 4 screws or was it my right? No issues or pain.
I asked my ortho at the time of during follow up appts. He said if no issues or pain he was ok w/ leaving it in.