Limb Lengthening Forum
Limb Lengthening Surgery => Limb Lengthening Discussions => Topic started by: ThickButt on April 09, 2016, 02:22:31 AM
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Hey everyone!
I'm seriously considering doing LL sometime in the next 1-3 years. Given that I live in Southern California, I will likely go with Dr. Shahab Mahboubian to undergo 5cm internal lengthening on my tibias. My question is this:
1. How long will it take before I can begin to have even assisted mobility? My job would allow me to move around with crutches no problem, so could I realistically expect to be back to work on crutches 2-3 weeks post-op? How long before I can drive again?
2. What is a good estimate for "full" recovery. As in walking, jogging, non-comp athletics ready.
I'm currently 5'7" right now, and plan to go for a full height of 5'10/11" eventually. However I'd like to test the waters a bit first with my tibs. My primary goal is safety and recovery, followed by time commitment, and far behind both, cost.
Thanks all!
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The general rule for tibial lengthening with externals is 2 months per cm. So for 5 cm, the approximate recovery time is 10 months. With nail or plate fixation, the time can be reduced to 1.5 months per cm.
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So your saying the whole process will take a year for 5cm? i think that's a bit long.
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Dr Parihar told me about 7 to 8 months for 5cm which is the most likely case.
However the general rule of thumb is anywhere between 1 to 2 months per cm so 5 to 10 months. You can see how he came up with 7 to 8 months from this rule of thumb.
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1. How long will it take before I can begin to have even assisted mobility? My job would allow me to move around with crutches no problem, so could I realistically expect to be back to work on crutches 2-3 weeks post-op? How long before I can drive again?
2. What is a good estimate for "full" recovery. As in walking, jogging, non-comp athletics ready.
I'm currently 5'7" right now, and plan to go for a full height of 5'10/11" eventually. However I'd like to test the waters a bit first with my tibs. My primary goal is safety and recovery, followed by time commitment, and far behind both, cost.
Thanks all!
Hey Thick
Nice name.
First, why are you "testing" with tibias instead of femurs? AFAIK, femurs heal faster, you will only have 2 fractures to worry about (instead of 4), and doesn't Mahboubian charge more for tibs than femurs?
With 5cm (and no complications), I think it is possible you can get around (with a lot of difficulty) in 3-4 weeks. I wasn't even allowed to start stepping with the walker until a week after frame removal. I get that you can get around work while on crutches, but even sitting too long on broken/lengthened legs can be difficult. To this day, I still lie down after being in a chair too long so I can stretch my calves, hamstrings and back.
Driving is not that big of a deal. I remember our PT Harry let one of the patients drive his car around the block maybe a month after his frames came off. I did not come home for about 7 weeks after I stopped lengthening, but I drove the very day I got back to my car in San Diego.
Beyond just the minimum working/driving, I hope you will have somebody around to help you with your life on crutches. I hadn't given enough thought to life as a TempCrip before I got home to realize how difficult (once-easy tasks like) grocery shopping could be, how hard washing dishes could be, carrying 5-gallon water bottles can be, going up and down stairs or hills can be...
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The general rule for tibial lengthening with externals is 2 months per cm. So for 5 cm, the approximate recovery time is 10 months. With nail or plate fixation, the time can be reduced to 1.5 months per cm.
Where did you get this information from?
As far as I know, from most doctors it takes 10 days to lengthen 1cm, therefore 50 days for 5cm (Approximately 2 months) and to fully consolidate, it takes twice the amount of time it took to distract (4 months). therefore the total months would be 6 months for 5cm if doing external.
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91211, 6 month for 5cm is very very unlikely. If you do purely external it will take most likely 1.5 to 2 months per cm distracted. Look at kilo khan diary for an indication of external. There are actually plenty of external diaries on this forum, read them to get a better understanding regarding recovery.
When are you planning on doing LL. Don't forget to write a diary for the rest of us.
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60 days to grow 1cm means, distraction is at 0.17mm a day ??? - hard to believe that... but yeah, will have a look at the other diaries.
hopefully looking to do it July this year. still haven't decided what method or doctor I will be using, doing that research now.
I might have to write a diary, seen as I will probably have nothing better to do when lengthening lol
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Consolidation is a function of how much you lengthen, not how fast you distract. If you're not very young (like <20), it's very unlikely that you will consolidate faster than 1.5 month/cm on tibia and in 90% of cases it will be close to 2 months/cm. Bone regenerate has to consolidate to the point it looks like a healthy bone, meaning:
1) it has to be solid white and not some more or less transparent bone that a lot of people fool themselves thinking that it's fully consolidated- not, it's not and it will deform the moment you remove the frame
2) canal has to at least start to emerge as the last phase of consolidation because the reason bone doesn't break or deform easily because it's like a pipe and it's much difficult to break a pipe than solid rod. Bone regenerate as it consolidates is like solid rod.
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Bone regenerate has to consolidate to the point it looks like a healthy bone, meaning:
1) it has to be solid white and not some more or less transparent bone that a lot of people fool themselves thinking that it's fully consolidated- not, it's not and it will deform the moment you remove the frame
Wouldn't the doc order a Dexa/DXA or CT scan to measure density before removing frame or nail?
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60 days to grow 1cm means, distraction is at 0.17mm a day ??? - hard to believe that... but yeah, will have a look at the other diaries.
hopefully looking to do it July this year. still haven't decided what method or doctor I will be using, doing that research now.
I might have to write a diary, seen as I will probably have nothing better to do when lengthening lol
'60 days per 1cm' is inclusive of both lengthening and consolidation, in the sense that from the initial surgery to the day you take the frames off, it will take 10 months for 5 cm.
-6 months for 5 cm is probably not going to happen