Pain around an implanted device, joint replacement, metal plate, or head implant should be assessed by the surgeon or medical team that placed it. It can result from normal healing or mechanical irritation, but it can also signal infection, loosening, fracture, dislocation, bleeding, or pressure on nearby tissue.

Seek emergency care now if there is:

For a joint replacement, increasing pain, swelling, warmth, stiffness, wound drainage, or a new loss of function needs prompt review. Fever may be absent in a prosthetic-joint infection, so do not wait for fever before calling the orthopedic surgeon. The AAOS joint-replacement infection guide describes these infections as serious and sometimes difficult to treat.

Until reviewed: avoid forcing the joint or device area, do not massage or press on it, and do not start leftover antibiotics. Antibiotics before cultures can make an infection harder to identify. The clinician may need examination, X-rays or other imaging, blood tests, and sometimes aspiration or cultures.

If this pain is new, worsening, or associated with any wound change, contact the implanting surgeon today.

If the implant or joint replacement was done years ago and pain mainly comes with cold weather, it is often due to stiffness of surrounding muscles, tendons, scar tissue, or arthritis in nearby joints. Many people notice this pattern, but weather itself does not usually mean the implant is failing.

Try:

However, arrange a non-urgent orthopedic review if the pain is new, progressively worse, occurs at rest or at night, causes limping or reduced movement, or is no longer only related to cold weather. Years after surgery, pain can sometimes reflect wear or loosening, and an X-ray may be needed. Infection can also occur years later, particularly with persistent pain plus swelling, redness, drainage, or worsening stiffness, as noted by the AAOS guidance.

Seek urgent care for severe sudden pain, inability to use the limb, fever or chills, hot/red swelling, wound drainage, or a fall or injury.