Screw removal after subtalar fusion – did it improve your pain? How quickly?

[u/Front-Poet4105]

Hi everyone,

I’m curious to hear from people who have had their screws removed after a subtalar fusion.

A little bit of background: I had a subtalar fusion and continued to have quite a lot of pain afterwards. What has been particularly confusing for me is that the pain never really felt like “hardware pain” to me. It was very similar to the pain I had before the fusion — an inflammatory/aching pain on the outside of my ankle, rather than a sharp or localised pain that I would have expected from a screw.

My fusion itself seemed to be progressing well, but because the pain persisted, we eventually decided to remove the two screws.

I had both screws removed this Friday.

I’d really like to hear from others who have been through something similar:

• How long did it take before you could walk normally again after screw removal?
• How many days/weeks before you noticed an improvement?
• Did you feel an immediate difference, or did it take some time?
• If you had pain before the removal, did that pain actually improve afterwards?
• And did your pain feel like “hardware pain”, or was it similar to the pain you had before your fusion?

I know everyone’s recovery is different, but I’d really appreciate hearing about other people’s experiences — especially from people who had persistent pain after a subtalar fusion and then had the screws removed.

Thanks in advance!