I'll chime in on this, I broke my collarbone end of august this year. We had been riding some decently fun/gnarly stuff at Bromont but ended up going down in a berm, on a green trail... Front of the bike just decided to go left while the berm went right, shoulder ended up contacting the dirt directly at around 30 kph. I Instantly knew something was broken but it didn't hurt that much. I went to the hospital and they ended up telling me it wouldn't be too bad to see if it heals by itself or if surgery was needed. A couple days later, after seeing an orthopedist, they determined that surgery was needed (my clavicle broke in two pieces, right in the middle and the two parts ended up going on top of each other) and that my whole right shoulder was slightly sagging lower than the left one. Surgery went fine, quick and easy process but the recovery was not necessarily fun at first. 11 screws and 37 stitches later, the recovery process started. The pain was easily bearable (to be honest I've had way worse pain not stemming from broken bones) but I was mostly scared of reopening the scar (22cm scar on the right shoulder) for the first weeks or so. It was quite a quick process to regain mobility and 1.5 months later I was back to riding bikes on the trainer or on the road. I was actually mountain biking by the end of October although I took it easy. It never really hurt but I was always slightly scared of crashing. I've started riding bmx again the last few months and so far it held up great. It does feel slightly weird sometimes when it's cold outside and it kinda feels as if someone just shimmed a titanium plate in between my bone and my skin (it feels slightly more sensitive in that area). I don't think I'll have to get it removed but I have another consultation with an orthopedist in two years to see if it bothers me. All this to say, thanks for free healthcare (Canada here...), take the time to make sure it heals properly before doing action sports stuff again (sling, recovery, regaining mobility, etc...) and screw using green trails as liaisons in between gnarly trails...
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...More
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.
the part about elderly / geriatric patients isn't entirely true. while they do represent a good portion of the patient population for internal fixation, they require fixation different parts of the anatomy and for different reasons than the population under 60. over 60 the most common fractures occur in the hips, pelvis, and humerus. There's commonly an underlying issue of bone density loss which is seen much less in non-elderly patients. nowadays there are lots of orthopedic surgeons that specialize in sports injury, skiing/snowboarding are big ones.
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...More
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
the most common materials used for implants are titanium and stainless steel (316L), so they are highly unlikely to trigger a metal detector. some of the grades used are actually MR safe.
the part about elderly / geriatric patients isn't entirely true. while they do represent a good portion of the patient population for internal fixation, they require...More
the part about elderly / geriatric patients isn't entirely true. while they do represent a good portion of the patient population for internal fixation, they require fixation different parts of the anatomy and for different reasons than the population under 60. over 60 the most common fractures occur in the hips, pelvis, and humerus. There's commonly an underlying issue of bone density loss which is seen much less in non-elderly patients. nowadays there are lots of orthopedic surgeons that specialize in sports injury, skiing/snowboarding are big ones.
I should also add that the inherent surgical risks are much higher in elderly populations (especially with ORIF), so an orthopedic specialist will be much less likely to recommend an unnecessary procedure (such as hardware removal) to an elderly patient. generally speaking they would only remove it if the risk of keeping it in place is higher than the risks associated with the surgical removal.
Had my hardware remover last week. Got it 3 years ago after crashing and fractured into 3 pieces. One year after surgery fell on my shoulder and fractured on the most outer screw-hole which was the weakest point at the time. New surgery would be sceptical cause here a larger piece of metal would be necessary and the surgeon had to operate on the most outer part of the bone where more nerves and vessels are involved. The surgeon advised to let it heal by itself.It healed very quick but in an angle. Now you can see a large bobble on my collarbone. So I definitely advice to take it out!
I'll chime in on this, I broke my collarbone end of august this year. We had been riding some decently fun/gnarly stuff at Bromont but ended up going down in a berm, on a green trail... Front of the bike just decided to go left while the berm went right, shoulder ended up contacting the dirt directly at around 30 kph. I Instantly knew something was broken but it didn't hurt that much. I went to the hospital and they ended up telling me it wouldn't be too bad to see if it heals by itself or if surgery was needed. A couple days later, after seeing an orthopedist, they determined that surgery was needed (my clavicle broke in two pieces, right in the middle and the two parts ended up going on top of each other) and that my whole right shoulder was slightly sagging lower than the left one. Surgery went fine, quick and easy process but the recovery was not necessarily fun at first. 11 screws and 37 stitches later, the recovery process started. The pain was easily bearable (to be honest I've had way worse pain not stemming from broken bones) but I was mostly scared of reopening the scar (22cm scar on the right shoulder) for the first weeks or so. It was quite a quick process to regain mobility and 1.5 months later I was back to riding bikes on the trainer or on the road. I was actually mountain biking by the end of October although I took it easy. It never really hurt but I was always slightly scared of crashing. I've started riding bmx again the last few months and so far it held up great. It does feel slightly weird sometimes when it's cold outside and it kinda feels as if someone just shimmed a titanium plate in between my bone and my skin (it feels slightly more sensitive in that area). I don't think I'll have to get it removed but I have another consultation with an orthopedist in two years to see if it bothers me. All this to say, thanks for free healthcare (Canada here...), take the time to make sure it heals properly before doing action sports stuff again (sling, recovery, regaining mobility, etc...) and screw using green trails as liaisons in between gnarly trails...
the part about elderly / geriatric patients isn't entirely true. while they do represent a good portion of the patient population for internal fixation, they require fixation different parts of the anatomy and for different reasons than the population under 60. over 60 the most common fractures occur in the hips, pelvis, and humerus. There's commonly an underlying issue of bone density loss which is seen much less in non-elderly patients. nowadays there are lots of orthopedic surgeons that specialize in sports injury, skiing/snowboarding are big ones.
the most common materials used for implants are titanium and stainless steel (316L), so they are highly unlikely to trigger a metal detector. some of the grades used are actually MR safe.
I should also add that the inherent surgical risks are much higher in elderly populations (especially with ORIF), so an orthopedic specialist will be much less likely to recommend an unnecessary procedure (such as hardware removal) to an elderly patient. generally speaking they would only remove it if the risk of keeping it in place is higher than the risks associated with the surgical removal.
Had my hardware remover last week. Got it 3 years ago after crashing and fractured into 3 pieces. One year after surgery fell on my shoulder and fractured on the most outer screw-hole which was the weakest point at the time. New surgery would be sceptical cause here a larger piece of metal would be necessary and the surgeon had to operate on the most outer part of the bone where more nerves and vessels are involved. The surgeon advised to let it heal by itself.It healed very quick but in an angle. Now you can see a large bobble on my collarbone. So I definitely advice to take it out!
Post a reply to: Do pros remove their hardware post surgery? (Also, did you?)