@anemarie Hello and welcome to Connect. May I ask what your fear is regarding removal of surgical hardware screws? I can tell you from experience that recovery from surgery for hardware removal isn't as bad as the surgery that gave you that hardware, and if your fracture was healed, you should be able to move as well as you do now after removal. After a few weeks of discomfort from annoying stiches, when those come out, you'll feel better. My hardware caused me pain. It throbbed and my leg would get warm. It was developing slight pigmentation on the skin over the plates. I also had chronic hives for months until it came out and I had to stay on antihistamines all the time.

Surgery does create scar tissue, and that can cause pain because it links the scar on the surface to the operative site inside your body. You can stretch out the scar tissue with myofascial release to get movement back. Sometimes that tight tissue does affect mobility, and that would be a question for a physical therapist who does this type of therapy. I do MFR and it helps a lot. Sometimes mobility issues are muscle weakness from the result of the injury, and that can take years to get back. I am 2.5 years past my ankle fracture injury, and still working on strength, but it does slowly get better. I have heard it may take up to 6 years to build back strength to be close to pre-injury ability.

Here is our myofascial release discussion:

MFR — Myofascial Release Therapy (MFR) for treating compression and pain: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/myofascial-release-therapy-mfr-for-treating-compression-and-pain/.

There is a provider search at http://mfrtherapists.com/

Do you have hardware removal scheduled? Will some hardware be left behind when the screws are removed? Did you discuss removal of all the hardware with the surgeon? If I had left any of it in my leg, I would still have pain. My body doesn't like living with metal inside.