I've been feeling funny sensations at times like the plate is moving..The chiro says it can't but have other people experienced sensations with hardware used for operations?
I have 7 screws and a plate LHS ankle and a screw RHS. At times the LHS plate etc feels like it's moving ..

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sboardcrazy said..
I've been feeling funny sensations at times like the plate is moving..The chiro says it can't but have other people experienced sensations with hardware used for operations?
I have 7 screws and a plate LHS ankle and a screw RHS. At times the LHS plate etc feels like it's moving ..

You probably have a screw loose

Sorry, couldn't resist

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AUS 808 said..

sboardcrazy said..
I've been feeling funny sensations at times like the plate is moving..The chiro says it can't but have other people experienced sensations with hardware used for operations?
I have 7 screws and a plate LHS ankle and a screw RHS. At times the LHS plate etc feels like it's moving ..

You probably have a screw loose

Sorry, couldn't resist

I do but not there..

A chiro has no medical training so you're probably better off getting it checked out rather than taking their word for it.

From Dr Steve, The walking Meccano set NO they don't move If they were put in right.

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sboardcrazy said..
I've been feeling funny sensations at times like the plate is moving..The chiro says it can't but have other people experienced sensations with hardware used for operations?
I have 7 screws and a plate LHS ankle and a screw RHS. At times the LHS plate etc feels like it's moving ..

It might be best to try to talk to the surgeon who performed the operation or at least your GP.

Probably right Steve..got to see the dr next week so I'll chase it up with him anyway..

Maybe some nerve damage and associated sensations ? But yes ask the doc.

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Haggar said..
Maybe some nerve damage and associated sensations ? But yes ask the doc.

Its only intermittent.. it happened at the end of the last 2 sails. I could feel it when the ankle was moving side to side..

Bones move ...so if your ve got plates screwed to it ,yes .
like everything it has to be worn in ..it will feel weird adapting to the new movement too.
like running in a new car motor ,don't run it too hard till it loosens up.

A simple x-Ray is well worth asking for and is good at finding loose implants. Having said that it is probably a muscle tendon or scar tissue moving over the hardware as you move in a certain way.

I had a screw come loose after 2 years out from a shoulder operation where the screw was meant o be permanent. Had to have a full operation to resolve. I'd get it checked out by the surgeon and not the chiro.

Agreed, Orthopedic Surgeon over a Chiropractor is the way to go.

I have a couple of plastic screws in my shoulder & my long bicep tendon is screwed into my arm [with a plastic screw], not the shoulder blade, as I had frayed the tendon. [got to love MTBing!] about 3 years ago.

According to my shoulder physio, who is world renowned, she believes that long term success is all about each persons individual blood supply in the bones.
Those with good supply heal well. She also feels that if you feel stiffness & soreness after exercise & physio, its a good sign. Anyone who had no pain ended up not healing well in the long term & many reinjured.

The surgeon used plastic screws as eventually the bone grows over it, into it, around it and he said he could if required put another in the same spot.
nigel

Nerves get severed during most operations, and when they heal themselves, which takes a long time, longer than anything else, you can get weird sensations from those when being used.
Sort of related, if you get a numb area on one side of an incision, it's due to nerve severing, and it can take a year for each inch of numb area to return to normal. ie. a 4" wide numb area can take 4 years to completely return to normal, so I've been told.
I'm no doc, I'm just relating thru my own experiences and answers that I got from my docs.

But seriously, I wouldn't come here or any other online forum for medical questions or advice, unless it's a medical forum, but I'd still be hesitant to go there either. It's simply the lure of free medical advice, you usually get what you pay for, ask your doc.

Thanks everyone.. yes I just was interested if anyone else had had a similar experience.
The chiro was saying the brain plays funny tricks. It's only happened a few times so I'll mention it to the dr and keep an eye on it. If it happens a lot I'll go and see the specialist again.

I have 6 pins, one plate, and one screw, with a bunch of wire in one tib/fib.
I have 3 screws in the other tib/fib.
I have 1 pin in a left pinkie.
I have 1 pin in a right pinkie.
YES, they tend to move a bit even after 3 years of the initial injury, but after about 10 year's, everything seems to set, but swelling still occurs after hard or unusual usage of that area.
Pre rainy days are especially hard, causing the areas to swell, although not all at the same time.
TIME seems to solve the problem the most, but even after 40 years, one of my tib/fibs still swell up a bit occasionally, and can always be used as a predictor for rainy days from the dull pain and slight swelling.

Yes I noticed cold days or weather change makes you more aware of them..

I also had a screw in the ankle, holding bits in to heal.
after a year it became quite painful at times, had it removed a year later.
Change of weather, front coming through, my ankle often gave way without warning.
30 years later all good but still feel the fronts coming sometimes.
the Body is a strange thing !!

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S018 said..
I also had a screw in the ankle, holding bits in to heal.
after a year it became quite painful at times, had it removed a year later.
Change of weather, front coming through, my ankle often gave way without warning.
30 years later all good but still feel the fronts coming sometimes.
the Body is a strange thing !!

I am thinking of maybe having them removed.. How big an op and down time to remove them? I suppose that long ago you wouldn't remember..

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S018 said..

Change of weather, front coming through, my ankle often gave way without warning.

May be you can be our weather forecaster, S018? We can hot-wire to your home phone for instant sailing conditions update

Yes brains a bit foggy but think it was only a week or so.
Still have the screw.. glad they knocked me out before putting the drill in.

Sue, you said your partner was handy? Get him to nip up the phillips heads with a screwdriver

Syringe some Locktite in there.

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sboardcrazy said..
I've been feeling funny sensations at times like the plate is moving..The chiro says it can't but have other people experienced sensations with hardware used for operations?
I have 7 screws and a plate LHS ankle and a screw RHS. At times the LHS plate etc feels like it's moving ..

The purpose of the plates is to hold the bones in place while they heal. Once healed the bone should be strong enough to take all load - the plates and screws are not really designed to take excessive load and can indeed break. I would expect and it is my experience that if you had broken a screw your pain would be more significant and regularly aggravated by mechanical loading. Yes recovery from such an injury takes time - as I think i mentioned to you one before and sensation recovery is slow.

That being said any concerns should be directed to your medical professional. On a professional note, had you taken the advice to see a physiotherapist and stop wasting your money on a chiropractor, then maybe you feel more confident and informed about your recovery. Apologies if your offended by this - but i recall you claiming to not be able to afford to see a physio, but you can afford chiro??

I talked to tons of people who needed pins, plates, screws, and wire to hold their bones together.
While it's meant to be a temporary procedure, at least 90% of the people decide to leave them in, if it's not bothering them in their new normal life.
However, it appears a small percentage DO go thru the somewhat easy procedure to remove the metal items. That is the easy part, unless the metal is fully set in the bone, and the bone has fully healed. THEN, it becomes a bit of a problem, as removing the metal wears on the surrounding bone material, taking you back another 6 months in recovery time.
If the metal is removed while swelling still occurs, but not significant swelling, it means the bones are close to 80+ % healed, and removing the hardware is relatively simple, but you need crutch's and sometimes more for a few months, then slowly and carefully working your way back to somewhat normal thru at least a 6 month rehab. This 6 month often becomes a year or more.
It took me over 3 year's after the break to fully move without swelling, so I opted out of the pin removal procedure. My doc told me my leg would be stronger with the pins removed, but I didn't want to go thru another year's recovery time, and I suspected it might have taken longer.
Yes, the pin heads do stick out, as does the corner of the plate, and one some days, you can almost feel the wire, but that's a small price to pay to avoid another year plus of recovery which I really don't believe in.

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DAM71 said...

sboardcrazy said..
I've been feeling funny sensations at times like the plate is moving..The chiro says it can't but have other people experienced sensations with hardware used for operations?
I have 7 screws and a plate LHS ankle and a screw RHS. At times the LHS plate etc feels like it's moving ..

The purpose of the plates is to hold the bones in place while they heal. Once healed the bone should be strong enough to take all load - the plates and screws are not really designed to take excessive load and can indeed break. I would expect and it is my experience that if you had broken a screw your pain would be more significant and regularly aggravated by mechanical loading. Yes recovery from such an injury takes time - as I think i mentioned to you one before and sensation recovery is slow.

That being said any concerns should be directed to your medical professional. On a professional note, had you taken the advice to see a physiotherapist and stop wasting your money on a chiropractor, then maybe you feel more confident and informed about your recovery. Apologies if your offended by this - but i recall you claiming to not be able to afford to see a physio, but you can afford chiro??

The chiro is free -barter deal . I hate to think what it would have cost otherwise . I don't think there is that much of an issue.Just a bit weirded out by sensations..The ankle is going well although Im sticking to flat water at the moment.