Bad to break titanium rod equipped leg?

How bad a thing is it if I break my leg again and it's already equipped with a titanium rod down the middle? I asked my surgeon and he just said "They usually break somewhere else.". I'm gonna ask again when he has more time but I'm thinking that it could be kinda hard to extract a bent titanium rod. And painful. And might involve bandsaws or bolt cutters. Anyone done this?

 

The Ti rod won't break.....the bone on either side of the Ti Rod will break.

To answer your question, it is bad to break your leg. Regardless.

 

This happened to the AMA Pro I worked with. He had a compound fracture of his left femur at Pocono in 97. In 99 he went down at Brainerd and rebroke that femur. As stated the Ti rod won't break and it won't bend permanently. The bone around it breaks.

Steve's leg had a very long diagonal break in it from what they described as a twisting break. The break looked like they drew a white line with a ruler diagonally aross the femur. The surgeon that repaired the leg was able to remove the old rod with two fingers(not suppose to be that loose) and he replaced it with a larger rod.

 

Hmmm. So maybe it's not that big a risk. I really don't want to go through more surgery to have the rod removed. (That was an unsolicited suggestion from a neighbor who had a rod removed from his femur "just in case".)

 

There's the chance of having that rod move, run into and tear the femoral artery or, maybe it'll move bone so that it damages that vessel. Either way, you've probably got a minute to live after tearing that piece of pipe.

 

contrary to popular belief, a ti rod will break. docs cant even explain how or why but a friend of mine currently is awaiting a surgical consult to see how to fix his. its broken clean approx 4 inches from his hip

go figure?
JB

 

Damn Plarp! you did learn something in class

 

So ummm stupid question maybe...but since I don't have one I don't know so I'm going to ask anyway.

Can you guys feel these rods both internally felt, as well as externally? Gives me the hebeegeebee's just thinking about it.

 

Holy shit. I can't even imagine the force that would take. :wow:

Of course Steve's rod was already a really big one. It would have taken an insane force to break one that big.

 

I don't have one but I've was told that yes you could feel it.

 

I dont have a rod but a plate in my arm which I can feel externally using my fingers. I can feel it internally if i concentrate on it while moving my joints as the stuff in my arm passes over it.

 

damn it...I really should not have asked that question.

 

I can feel the plate in my hip from the outside. Kind of freaky when I take time to think about it.

I was told that a break with a plate does serious damage to the bone (at least in the hip).

 

Yeah when you stop and think about...it's pretty cool some of the things they can now days.:up: Who woulda thunk you'd end up with Titanium rods in your body to fix broken bones...I mean it wasn't that long ago people thought Titanium was something you only seen in a Superman movie.

 

Which makes me wonder, at what percentage of the metal in that titanium used for orthopedic repair is actually Ti? The stuff is really difficult to work with, salts like chlorine are really corrosive when they come into contact with pure Ti. Anyone know what quality/grade etc. is used for this work? Monte?

 

6AL-4V

I can feel the plate in my hand too. Also, the Dr. told me that some people can develop an "allergy" which can make the piece VERY painful and force removal.

 

I have 2 Ti rods in my leg and I cant feel them at all.

 

I have Ti plates in my neck along with some fusions. Cant feel a thing but do not have a full range of motion in my neck either.

 

your teeth dont count as "bones" in this case, and the only other way you're feeling any bones is if Putter is humping you.......