If you bent a rod or broke a screw would you feel it. How would you know? My frienRAB all say "welll you would be in horrific pain if you did that"... Is that true? If you did break or bend some hardware could you tell me how you did it and what type of pain there was?
The only reason I ask is because as I stated in another post:
Last Friday (6/30) I went to sit in my car and realized that it had not locked into park. So sitting with my butt on the edge of the seat and my legs facing outward I kind of rocked the car into gear with each arm extended to the door frame of the car. The car did move a few inches forward. Don't know why I did this but I didn't feel anything until the next day. Anyway my concern is bending or breaking a rod or screw... would I have felt that right away?
I must sound nuts to some of you guys.... Everytime I do something I think "oh did I break one of those screws"
The screws that were placed in my spine were Titainium. I am sure the same in yours. I doubt your going to break or bend them. Unless you get hit by a truck or get run over. I hope this helps.
My doc told me, long before I did the stupid thing mentioned above, that over time the hardware will fail if a fusion does not take place. He said that after a while the roRAB can break if stressed too much, kind of like bending a paper clip back and forth enough times.
Hi there,
You wouldn't know for sure whether or not you broke or caused strain on your hardware. In my case it was slow. For the first 2 weeks following my surgery I had no pain in my legs and feet, which was amazing because it had been 4 years of awfull pain. At any rate after the 2 weeks I started getting the pain back and it was way worse. My back pain was really bad and my nerves were going crazy. So I saw my doc and he did an xray, he was quite sure it was broken but wanted to confirm with a ct scan. Turns out it is broken and I am currently awaiting another surgery, one that will be way more extensive and invasive than the first. Needless to say I am very unhappy and scared about this.
I certainly don't want to scare you or anything but that's how I knew something was wrong and I had to insist that the appropriate tests were done.
If you are unsure then I would suggest seeingyour surgeon or GP and gets some diagnostic tests done. It'll at least give you peace of mind. If something is wrong then it's better to catch it early. Take care and let me know how you are doing.
Kristy.
can you please specify exactly what these diagnostic tests are??? I had surgery over 2 months ago and in xrays the rod looks bent on the right side...the surgeon said it benRAB with me but its titanium and my neurologist looked at the xrays and says it looked bent to him. How do I address this with my surgeon who seems eager to dismiss this idea, or what tests do i ask for. I would appreciate any ideas or advice
I am living with a nonfused SI joint....my Dr. said at first that the nuts/bolts/screws etc. were made to hold everything in place until you fused....roughly several months...after that they can do stuff....or back out. Now that really scares me.... How could that strong of a metal break??? well, I guess it could if that is all that is holding you together, ya think???? I hope that all of my "metal" stays just where it is supposed to be... How come we don't consider this stuff prior to surgery???
I had a fusion about a year ago...went for my one year check-up this week and found that there has been no change in my x-rays since having some taken in May. In other worRAB...there is little to no fusion taking place.
He also found that one of my screws had a stress fracture. How did this happen? Well I'm a homemaker and do not do any type of work or activity that would jar my back enough to break a screw. I'm at a complete loss to how this happened. My doc asked if I had fallen or had an accident...I have been ultra careful since the surgery and haven't experienced anything that you would think would cause a screw to fracture.
I'm quite bummed about it all...so looks like injections followed by a CS or MRI and perhaps "revision" surgery.
I guess you don't have to get hit by a bus to have a screw fracture. I think perhaps you might call this an "equipment failure" if you ask me. Arghhhhhhhhhhhh!!! Just tired of the pain.
