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[–] 8 points 2 months ago (7 children)

Yeah..... Watching spinal surgery can be gnarly. There's a procedure to debris the spinal column before you install hardware called spinal flossing. You basically get a shop towel and wrap it around the spine and shimmy the towel like you're cleaning a bowling ball.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (6 children)

    I saw a video of a knee implant extraction, and it was just one doctor hammering the living fuck out of the implant until he got tired and gave the hammer to the next doctor.

    My dad had a recall on a hip implant so they cracked his femur open longways to get it out. Still has better mobility than pre-surgery.

    Edit https://youtu.be/mJc5SBFuSHQ?is=6Y4vWxH9njZVfjH5

    It wasn't an implant that got stuck just a thingy

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago (3 children)

    Yeah, orthopedics is pretty much shop class but with more expensive tools and hardware. Bones are a lot tougher than what most people tend to think, so sometimes you just have to wack on the hardware with a big mallet to get them to release.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    I mean it's good, right? Bones SHOULD be stronger than wood

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  • Yeah, it's a little stronger than reinforced concrete. Looks like they're trying to remove some old hardware that's been fixed in place by some osseointergration.

    They make slide/slam hammers for this kind of work that makes it a lot easier and safer for the pt, but looks like they didn't have one, or didn't think they'd need it and didn't/forgot to prep one.

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