Do pros remove their hardware post surgery? (Also, did you?)

Didn't vote in the pole because I don't have hardware in my collarbone. I did have a discussion with my doc a few years ago about removing the rod from my femur. Decided to keep it because I do not ever want to experience that recovery ever again

Had the option to remove the hardware but decided to leave it in.  On really cold days when I'm outside I can feel the hardware change temp if i'm not being active.  Funky feeling but it's manageable and goes away when body gets moving.  Currently I have no negatives for performance gain/loss.  Mentally pushed through as if it never happened and have slammed quite a few times since and it's held up.  The other shoulder has been separated and had surgery to "repair" it.  The broken collarbone with hardware has had a better outcome of the two.  

my Dr. told me we have to take hardware out, because if I would fell of the bike and crash bone with hardware, there would be not a single breakage, but life threatening multiple breakages with a huge amount of fragments. 

it did hurt and for more than half a year, until bones get joins properly and without holes in them. 
 

Had a plate in my elbow for three years, never considered taking it out. One day it started giving me pain any time I rested on my elbow, had it taken out shortly after. Recovery was short and simple. 

Think it's case by case on how invasive the surgery is. I had one removed from lower leg/ankle that was right under the skin, but there are a couple in my pelvis behind loads of muscle etc that will be there forever. But yeah, if you have the same crash the bone will shatter all over the place in a shardy mess.

i work for a company that designs & manufactures these kinds of implants (internal fixation / orthopedics).  there's really no hard or fast rule, but "it depends".  location & type of implant / injury are generally the primary drivers of whether or not an orthopedic surgeon will recommend removal.  some implant types cannot be removed. 

I had mine removed because of where it was placed: it sat high enough on the clavicle that the strap on my running pack severly chafed the skin. (The surgeon who removed it was quite critical of that placement).

Still have it in (collarbone), but that's because its only been in there since august 2023. Doc's 2 cents are "leave it in unless its severely bothering you.". So far so good on that. Have 2 plates and 16 or so screws. Bone was in 2 very pronounces pieces with a number of fragments. Damn road bikes. Very glad i got the hardware and didn't leave it to heal on its own. 

Following to see what others experiences. 

Left mine in based on two Dr. rec... Broke my clavicle in fragments so the plate was necessary.  Unfortunately, I was riding about 6 weeks after surgery, crashed and landed on shoulder again and bent the plate!   So now I have a bump on my collar bone where its bent.  Dr. was admit about leaving in it in.    He does a lot of extreme athletes from around the world and has seen too many reinjure and need to put another plate back in, in some cases, several times !  

spinal fusion L4-L5-S1, 8 years ago, hardware still in.  As an aside, my father just had the same surgery and the hardware failed due to bone density issues.  Fortunately, the bone graph portion of the fusion took, so the surgery was successful... however, for this reason I would always caution people regarding corticosteroid therapy due to the bone density impacts and the limitations on future surgical intervention (god forbid if required).  

Wife had a triple boxer fracture (metacarpal) with 18 screws, 3 plates and wire in her left hand (from a JRA riding crash).  Her doctor advised to leave the hardware in unless it becomes painful.  Like many have stated here... she can feel the temp of the hardware and it weirds her out, but no significant pain.  

Not sure what I would do for a collarbone.  I appreciate this thread for if/when the day comes.  I broke mine when I was 14 and my bones were still rubber so it was re-set and healed up just fine.  Now that I'm 40 plus I don't bounce.  

I had a plate with 11 screws on the collarbone. I removed it after a year because the doc said that if I crash on it (which is likely to happen when you ride mtb) I can bend the plate and destroy my collarbone and everything around. The second operation to remove it is just a 2 weeks healing process so it’s not so bad and it’s worth it. 

I've broken my left collarbone 4 times and my right collarbone zero. I gotta learn to turn left. I'm not an ambi-turner. Cue Zoolander face. 

The first break was the worst and required a plate with a whole gaggle of screws. 
I was racing a lot of XC and road at the time and was wicked skinny so the screw heads would aggravate my skin. I couldn't wear backpacks at all. 

I got the plate removed and then crashed a few months later and it broke again. If you go the removal route, take it seriously easy for around 4 months. You can go about daily life pretty much immediately, but mountain biking (and particularly crashing) introduces loads that are extremely atypical.

The next two breaks were simple and spaced a few years apart, I just healed them at home without surgery with a simple sling. 

 

Had five clavicle surgeries over the years from mtb falls. Honestly this is a lose lose scenario…left the original hw/plate in, only to fall and break the bone, mangling the titanium. Looked like it was a centimeter away from coming through the skin. It’s hard to put into words how painful this is… not to mention the danger to important arteries in your neck. The pain brought me to my knees for months until the hw was installed/healed. Fast forward to the recommended removal surgery due to a complication with the second plate. One of the screws had worked its way too far through the bone and was tearing up my rotator cuff. The damage eventually had become infected without my knowledge, along with rupturing arteries that run under the clavicle. I was rushed from the emergency room to an emergency surgery that night and almost lost my life. Fast forward again…The law of averages caught up and I eventually took another mtb fall that resulted in a clavicle break. The bone was almost shattered and another surgery with a plate was required. I ended up getting a pacne infection (common w/shoulder surgeries) and needed to be on intravenous antibiotics for four months, pushing the total recovery to six months. Honestly I wish I would of just tried to let the original break heal w/o surgery. Surgeons love to operate but that may not always be the best option. My recommendation is to exhaust EVERY OPTION before getting surgery. If surgery is needed, research your doc as if your life depended on it. Go fast, take chances… 

Shattered my heel, got 9 screws and a plate put in. Doc recommended keeping it in unless I experience any hardware pain. Goal is to leave it in forever, but all based on future pain. At this point I am 5 months out from surgery and do not have any hardware pain, just some minor ankle stiffness in the mornings or evenings after a big day.

Fear of infection (my father had collarbone surgery a year before me and it also got infected) led me to decide against getting surgery/hardware. 

I had a single fracture, but the lateral half of the bone slid medially such that the two halves of the collarbone overlap by 1.5". Since they were in contact, the doctor said they should knit/mend and surgery was optional. Recovery was long (~14 weeks to any type of riding).

I had zero issues for ~10 years (golf game possibly improved) but over the last few I've had some minimal ones arise. My asymmetry across the shoulders has led to some additional muscular issues in my back I have to really cognizant of. Recently my ski touring backpacks have begun to aggravate the bump in my collarbone unless I'm super careful as well.

Given everything, I'm still glad I avoided surgery.

I managed to fracture my femur in two places after crashing on a riding holiday years ago. Because one of the fractures was on the neck of the femur they couldn't nail it and I had to have an external plate with seventeen screws holding it in place.

I had a lot of trouble with repeated attacks of bursitis in my hip and I could feel a tendon or ligament catching on the plate when I bent my leg at the hip.

I had to be quite forceful with the doctors as they were reluctant to remove the metal, but I eventually convinced them that it was a better option than having me as a continual burden on the health service. As others have stated, infection can be an issue and when they cut me open for the removal they found a lot of puss around my hip area, which almost certainly added to the problems I was having recovering.

I still have 3 screws and a snapped drill bit in there (you can see it about a third of the way down the xray), but I've had very few issues since the bulk of the metal was removed.

mmmmm intramedullary nails 

I’ve been a medical provider for 19 years and I can say it’s totally dependent on the patient and situation. If it causes pain and discomfort then have it removed. If it doesn’t then no reason to risk going under the knife again. I’ve left mine in and have no intent to remove it. I’ve crashed hard enough to break my handlebars post repair and the shoulder held up fine. But I also know people that went a year post collar bone repair and couldn’t wait to get the hardware out. I think a broad brush stroke of “leave it or not” isn’t a fair assessment to the patient and their recovery, mobility, pain threshold, strength,……etc. 

Yup! It's 100% down to the individual and mostly if its causing any issues. I have hardware in both of my shoulders and with the second one the surgeon was prety sure we would need to remove it, but when it wasn't causing me any grief thought it was better to leave it in. No one really wants to go through a GA surgery and recovery if they don't need to.

Another friend had pretty constant issues after a wrist surgery and eventually asked/forced them to remove the hardware, and is now doing much better so its very dependent on your own experience and you won't really know until after the surgery

Buddy had classic boot top tib-fib spiral fracture from a skiing incident, and had the hardware removed couple years after because he had issues with it causing pain and rubbing inside his boots.

Doesn't bother Travis Pastrana!

there is a theory that collarbones are designed to fail to protect more important bones

so it might be something to consider when deciding to keep ti hardware

some reading here: https://www.reddit.com/r/MTB/comments/16hzz65/comment/k0i2ojw

I had the plate on my clavicle removed once it had done its job, for several reasons.  Most importantly, because the plate was almost the full length of the bone, any future fractures would occur at one or both ends, complicating subsequent repairs.  It also sat right under seatbelts and backpack straps so it was a source of discomfort.

The recovery was a lot more straightforward than the original surgery because the bone/joint could still be used immediately, I just had to be careful not to injure it again for about six months, but the bone is now back to 100%.  It did take noticeably longer for sensation to return to the surrounding area the second time around.

hard choice cause im sure it would save some grams, but the bragging rights to say that ive got titanium hardware and get matching hardware on my bike

I left mine in. The only time there's any discomfort is when it's really cold outside or after a lot muscular training. Like using a row machine. But it's a very mild discomfort that subdues quickly.

Now, 6 broken ribs on the other hand......... 😖

no pro but removed all my hardware (arms, collarbone) because it was hindering me. the other thing is, if i strengthen the bone with a plate and crash again, the force needs to go somewhere else. so i'd rather break my collarbone again but clean instead of at the edge of the plate or even worse, the force goes into the shoulder, etc.

i'm quite a tall lad with noodle arms so that was one point of the discomfort, the other was: the plates pinched through and you could see the holes of the plates under my skin which didn't look to good to be honest

I did my collar bone a few seasons back. It was displaced enough that the only option was surgery. I had a nice "skin tent" situation going on there while I waited for surgery. Pretty gross to look at. I opted to keep the hardware in, partially because I didn't want to have to go through surgery/recovery again, and partially because I figured it would make it a bit stronger. Although that second part might not be entirely accurate. I don't really have any issues comfort wise with the hardware. 

I've ridden and raced bikes pretty much my whole life. I retired as a bmx professional in 1997, and got my semi pro and pro USAC licenses in 2003/2004. I've had so many surgeries I've lost track. I have a plate on my left fibula from the US Open in 2011, right hand 3rd metacarpal JRA in 2010, and two plates on my right clavicle from 2017/2018: started with one, crashed again and it broke at the last screw and had an adjoining plate 'installed'.

All the hardware is still installed. Every time I walk through a metal detector I secretly wish it will register. Which is doesn't.

Other than all of these parts of my body being slightly disfigured, and the fibula plate being a nuisance when snowboarding, none of it really bothers me. 46 years old, still riding almost every day

I'm an non-pro rider, I broke my ankle very badly about 15 years ago (talus fracture, there was even a chance that I would lose my foot completely) and have still 5 pretty large screws in there. The recommendation was to leave the screws if they don't bother me and they don't. I also have a limited range of motion which sucks when I ski, but that's because there is protrusion that came to be some time after the injury that mechanically blocks the motion. But since it's my rear foot, it doesn't bother me when I ride. However, it's always in the back of my mind, I don't want to imagine what would happen if I would brake it again in the same spot. So I don't do huge gaps where there is a chance of a hard case or really high drops where there is chance that I fall off and land off the bike. But I wouldn't say that it severely impact fun riding my bike, I just have to say no if the risk is too high so I can keep riding, skiing and walking.

I also have to say that all the recommendations you get from doctors are heavily based on the experience from older patients. The issue most injuries the require metal come from older population and I also have the feeling that doctors do not really consider that the patients will keep doing sports. Also the prognosis is on a very conservative side because average mtb rider is younger, fitter and takes more care about his health than the average patient. This may be something to consider when making the decision between keeping or removing metal.