Why does fracture occur after nail removal 1 year post-op?

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Quote from: ChangeMyLife on October 10, 2021, 07:32:09 AMThis is a great point too. The IM cavity will be devoid of marrow/fat right after rod removal, making it more hollow and perhaps less rigid for a few months until it fills in again.

Is it worth doing the removal in 2 stages? (1) Removing the bottom screws in the first surgery to apply marginally more load on the bone and allow it to harden under this load (2) Removing the other screws and the rods a few months later.

Another 2-staged removal: Remove the nail/screws from one leg first, restrict weight bearing to a minimum on that side, then remove the other nail later.

Personally, I don't mind going into surgery multiple times, I just prefer not to be in constant fear of one (or both) of my femurs snapping unexpectedly.

For all the technology that's been developed, it's surprising that there's no conclusive/quantitative way to tell if a bone has truly hardened or if the x-rays are just misleading  .

That’s dumb as it will cost exponentially more and having surgery is not easy on the mind and body

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Quote from: Activatedxx on October 13, 2021, 06:34:59 AMThat’s dumb as it will cost exponentially more and having surgery is not easy on the mind and body

Definitely is more taxing on the body/mind, but would you rather have 2 planned (and rather simple) surgeries, or one surgery and a higher risk of unexpected fracture (which could lead to a major surgery, trauma and more recovery time)?

It would cost twice as more, not exponentially more.

Also it is not dumb, Dr. Assayag even suggested this option in one of his videos. I'm not saying everyone should, I'm weighing the pros and cons as objectively as possible.

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ty!!! What are your thoughts on a better amount of time to wait than 1.5 years to take them out?

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after reading of this twice from patients who had them removed close to the 1 year post-op mark, yes preferably aim for 1.5 - 2 years if you really want to take the extra caution.

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ty!!!!!

There is one thing I am a bit curious about. What is the physical mechanism of why 1 year vs 1.5 vs 2 etc might have different results?

Ex: is the bone not fully healed at 1 year? Or is the reason completely unrelated?

I am thinking of doing LL then waiting like 5-10 years to take it out (gonna be a bit busy with things, maybe should do earlier?), dk if that is a bad idea. It takes 2 weeks to recover after taking it out or am I mistaken?