Question:
I have rods and screws in my lower back from a spine surgery three years ago.  We just found out that one of the screws is broken.  Should I be alarmed about this?  The fusion has successfully healed, and I’m not having any pain, but do I need to get the rods and screws removed?
—Seattle, WA

Answer:
You can better understand what’s going on in your back if you think of a construction project—specifically a road paving project.

Have you ever seen a road crew just getting ready to pour the concrete?  There are a lot of steel bars and wires on the roadbed already, creating a mold for the concrete.  All those steel parts are held in place by the concrete.

The rods and screws in your low back are kind of like the "hardware" in a road.  Once you have full fusion—meaning the vertebrae have healed and are stabilizing the spine—the rods and screws are enmeshed in the "concrete" of your bones, muscles, tendons, and ligaments.

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