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Does anyone know why Harrington rods aren't used anymore? I had one put in in 1980, then had it removed in 2000 because a screw had come loose. I'm just curious to know.
Thank you
Thank you
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I'm no expert on this, but my understanding is that the harrington rods didn't bend enough, and so tended to cause problems in the lumbar spine, where the spine needed to bend. People who only had the rods in the upper spine often did fine.
The harrington rods have been replaced with more flexible rods. -
Hi..
It isn't really that the rods are flexible (although they are bendable with the appropriate tools). The rods are attached to the spine at multiple fixation points, which allows correction of the spine in both coronal (side-to-side) and lateral (front-to-back) planes. Without that capability, the loss of the appropriate lateral curves causes problems in and of itself.
--LindaNever argue with an idiot. They always drag you down to their level, and then they beat you with experience. --Twain
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