Steel or Titanium... Cold??

[johnsonbunch]

What's your take on steel rods versus titanium, and how does it feel in the winter with the cold? I'm still presurgery.

[Pooka1]

I think it's just surgeon preference. Both have pros and cons as I understand it.

Also, "titanium" goes better with "ed" than does "steel."

[skoshi314]

Titanium

I have 14 titanium screws and 2 rods. This last winter was my first experience with the hardware in the cold. It may have been my imagination but it seemed that I was cold allllll winter and once I would get cold it took forever to warm up. Shivering was rather painful so I did everything I could to not get extremely cold. Like I said, it could have been my imagination but that was my experience.

Good luck!

[loves to skate]

I have steel screws and rods and I was freezing as well this past winter, especially if I got into the car with leather seats before the car was warmed up. I would then not only be cold, but in pain as well for the rest of the day. Cloth seats are not as cold, so didn't bother me too much. I want to move South or spend my winters in the Caribbean or Hawaii.
Sally

[JenniferG]

I have titanium and I too, have felt very cold this current Winter. I put it down to being in recovery, and perhaps all my energy is still going into healing inside.

[jrnyc]

steel or titanium

dear johnson bunch
i have not yet decided on surgery...but my surgeon said he thinks steel is stronger...i said i wanted titanium cause i heard it caused fewer problems (?) ...he said he didnt agree but would do whatever i wanted in terms of material for rods...he's great & IF i have surgery, it will be with him (dr lonner, nyc)
talk of being cold scares me off!...i have always been very cold alllllll winter & half of spring..specially cause in the northeast lately we go from winter to summer without spring, & this summer all we mostly have is chilly rain!!

best to you
jess

[debbei]

I was always cold in the winter, but this past winter, which was my first fused, I could not tolerate cold at all. Mostly because if I was cold, I shivered, and if I shivered, it HURT! BTW, my hardware is stainless steel.

[Snoopy]

I have steel screws and rods and I was freezing as well this past winter, especially if I got into the car with leather seats before the car was warmed up. I would then not only be cold, but in pain as well for the rest of the day. Cloth seats are not as cold, so didn't bother me too much. I want to move South or spend my winters in the Caribbean or Hawaii.
Sally

If you go to the Caribbean or Hawaii you have to take all of us along!

Mary Lou

[debbei]

If you go to the Caribbean or Hawaii you have to take all of us along!

Mary Lou

Count me in!!

[debbei]

I have steel screws and rods and I was freezing as well this past winter, especially if I got into the car with leather seats before the car was warmed up. I would then not only be cold, but in pain as well for the rest of the day. Cloth seats are not as cold, so didn't bother me too much. I want to move South or spend my winters in the Caribbean or Hawaii.
Sally

Sally,

that's why I love my remote car starter and seat warmers!! Even before surgery, I always said if my butt is warm, all of me is warm.

[PNUTTRO]

You're hardware stays at the same temperature as your core body temperature. If you are a person who is generally warm, then it won't be a problem.

[Pooka1]

You're hardware stays at the same temperature as your core body temperature. If you are a person who is generally warm, then it won't be a problem.

I was waiting for someone to state this.

I think folks are extrapolating to their (unrelated) experience of touching metal and it feeling cold.

I think even if the rods were very close to the skin, it is impossible for them to reach a lower temp than that of the body.

[johnsonbunch]

I live in Florida currently, so cold winters now is not an issue. But we have a lake house in NE Tennessee that we want to relocate to to escape these 100 degree muggy summers we're having now. The thought of being in a turtle brace in this heat makes me sweat! It's not as cold in Tennessee as in the great white north some of you guys are in, and I do have heaters in my leather seats (never use them in Florida).

My husband thinks titanium would be less of a cold conductor than stainless steel, but my surgeon also says the steel is stronger and that the hardware does not make you cold. It makes sense that it would remain the same temperature as your internal body temp since it's inside, but then again it's not that far under the skin or covered with any fat. My cousin in Maine complains about a steel plate in his leg freezing in winters, so I thought I'd ask from you guys that have experienced it.

[Pooka1]

My cousin in Maine complains about a steel plate in his leg freezing in winters, so I thought I'd ask from you guys that have experienced it.

How did he determine the plate froze?

Isn't the real explanation likely to be his brain incorrectly interpreting the feelings in his leg as cold sensation? Brain science is in its infancy but we do know these types of things occur.

It is not possible for the plate to be other than body temperature. If anyone has any evidence showing this is not true then I'd like to see it.

[johnsonbunch]

Not actual freezing, but the sensation. And I'm sure much of what we feel is psychological. But never having experienced it myself, I had to ask.