I'm so METAL

I'm sure plenty of people have much more impressive hardware x-rays, and I would like to see them and get some stories and feed back about how it has affected you long term. I only did this less than 6 months ago and am functioning fairly normally, but I wonder what it might feel like in 6 years etc. Thank for any info.

Don't do this.

talus?

Yes, talus, in half, stuck in a crack 100+ feet off the ground, 2+ hours to the ambulance, crushed nerves, still hurts like a bitch. The only positive swing was that all my muscle, tendons and ligs were fine, I somehow managed to break nothing but the one bone, which the doctor said was fairly impressive.

Great shot. Not related to yours, but this:

This is what happens when you are a dumbass while bouldering. August 2005.

Became this:

This is what happens when you find a good surgeon after being a dumbass while bouldering. December 2005.

Friend shows you a dyno. Do dyno, snag jug, fail to control body swing, slip off jug, land bellyflopped onto outstretched wrist. Broken radius and ulna, fixed radius, I guess the ulna kind of heals itself, or not. This was in 05, no functional issues remain. Cast for 7 weeks, then a couple months of rehab, back climbing in 5 months. Hurt for about a year.

Attempting to breakdance at a party during the 2009 Ouray Ice Fest.

Old breakdancing injury

Old breakdancing injury

Still can't bend the last digit. OK on ice, SUCKS! on rock.

T12 to L2 Fusion

T12 to L2 spinal fusion after falling 40-ft in February of this year. I've lost some flexibility flexing forward, but not much. Just seems stiffer. Mentally I get anxious thinking about falling from time to time, but it's always post-climb. I started climbing right at 6 months from the day I fell.

3 screws and a plate after breaking my talus in February 09. Not in half, so not as bad, only took me a few months to recover. Climbing again in May, hiking distance again in August.

I'm not sure I still have the x-rays but I broke my talus in half in Mexico. I was put back together by a doctor/ carpenter that opted to not put in screws as they would have done in the US. Instead he drilled two holes in the bone in an X pattern and placed metal rods in leaving them sticking out of the top of my foot. After the bone healed my ortho doc here just yanked them out so I have no hardware in my foot. As it turns out my doc said the chance of the bone restoring blood flow was lower with this method but since it works it is for the best as I don't have the hardware for future complications... kinda interesting.

I'd think that could lead to a really dangerous possibility of bone infection, but if you're okay, then so be it. Just goes to show you Mexico is more civilized than Idaho, I broke my collarbone up there once and since the doctor only came over from Jackson once a week and it PROBABLY wasn't going to puncture my lung so they just sent me home with painkillers.

I'm just waiting for Hank to post something...

I crashed my road bike seven years ago, shattering my left wrist. It was ok after set in the ER, but the pieces moved in the cast. Came out at 6 weeks "crookeder than a dog's hind leg," as my father would say. Had to have it rebroken and straightened. The doc found out during surgery that my EPL tendon had been severed and did an EIT to EPL transfer. Needed a second surgery a year later to repair the ulnar styloid the doc chose not to fix in the first surgery. 99% of the population would be fine without it, but I had stability problems - I could dislocate my ulna at will. For some reason, that repair didn't want to heal properly, so I spent 4 months in a cast and an additional 3 months with an electronic bone stim unit. The best news about surgery #2 was getting the plate and screws from surgery #1 removed. I am happily non-metalic. I took up climbing three years ago, and only every once in a while to I find a hand position that is not comfortable. Best wishes for a speedy recovery to the OP!

In the ER:

6 weeks later:


After it was rebroken, straightened and screwed together:

Real good photos, everybody.Evan,I broke that bone bouldering in Southern Illinois in '77. Drove home to St.Louis-couldn't put pressure on the brake pedal-ended up using two feet to drive. Fun times! That break didn't need any hardware; but there has never been a better time to break your ankle-those guys know what they're doing. I'd bet dollars to donuts that in six years you barely notice it. Hope your recovery is full.

Damn.... modern medicine. Architect + Carpenter + Doctor

One of the well known climbers in this area (New England) has shrapnel in his foot from Vietnam, I've seen his x-ray. It certainly hasn't slowed him down much.

Rt clavicle. Very first day on brand shiny new 29er on steep gravel clipped into pedals for first time. 11 screws - 6 inch plate. Doc at hospital e.r. put it in a sling and said it'll heal. A week later a customer at our shop who is a bone doc and a climber came in and said holy shit and had me in surgery that evening. It was the 4th collar bone he had done out of our employee pool!

A bit fuzzy

You pansies and you metal inserts. The tough ones just let them heal on their own.

Just kiddin'

No pics but my buddy went bouldering outdoors for the first time last february...15 foot fall, shattered talus. Plate and six screws in the heel.

I can beat you Pete....

My first day on my shiny brand new full suspension mountain bike... you can go a lot faster than a hardtail ... a little too fast for my abilities.

First day on shiny brand new full suspension mountain bike October 2011.

Clavicle surgery

....

and just over 6 months later I crashed again and broke it right at the end of the plate. So the plate came out and this new hardware went in (new break couldn't be plated).

Second break same side April 2012 about 6 months later.

I guess i'm not as metal that hardware came out in August, but I still have a nice rod and a few screws in my tibia from a wakeboarding accident in 2004.

Left ankle

Second lead ever a couple years ago. Really inexperienced and went off route. Broken tibia and talus, shattered fibula = two plates 9 screws and a pin. Laid up on the couch for a couple months and had to drop out of school for the semester. I was much less cavalier when I healed up. I also learned how to do things more safely.

Inexperience and confidence can be trouble.

GREAT THREAD!! Sorry, I have no pictures to add.

Could be from many accidents over the years..... too many "hey yall watch this" moments to account for. Too bad we didn't have digital cameras back when, we'd be jackass rich.....

Hip hurt so bad I couldn't walk further than a mile and limped noticably. Got to the point I couldn't surf anymore period... leading leg, couldn't get it up and planted (no pun intended).

Full replacement guy told me the most I'd ever do would be playing golf, lol not.... so I put it off until I was damn near an in-valid, then heard about this guy doing resurfacing....Jury is still out on heavy metals and long term but I pretty much do what I want again with little or no pain/discomfort..

Blur to make it SFW.....a to keep the chicks from flooding my PM's!

Hip Resurface