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[bethie0022]

Hello, I am the parent of a 13 year old daughter undergoing a limb lengthening procedure on her right forearm. She had the surgery in July and has been doing relatively well. We are a little over 3 cm, with a goal of 5 cm. She is on regular pain medication, OxyContin extended release twice a day. But we are finding that she is having break through pain, which we are told is due to the stretching of the muscles and tendons, which makes sense. However, I am concerned about the breakthrough pain and having to increase her pain medication.

Although I see most posts here are for leg procedures, I am wondering if anyone can provide me some feedback on their experience with pain. Can you share your stories about the pain you encountered? How bad was it? Were some days better than others? Did you notice that the closer you got to your goal length, the pain increased due to stretching?

The doctor said if my daughter reached 5 cm, and her fingers seemed to maintain range of motion (which they are fine currently) we could shoot for 6-7cm. Unfortunately, she is close to "hitting the wall." I want her to get the most out of her surgery, but I fear if the pain continues, she will want to stop at 5cm.

Any experience you can share, I would appreciate!

[neverending]

I did only 4 cm of lengthening and stopped.  Too much pain - not worth it for m because I also had the legs straightened and was happy.  I have had P/T 3x a week for two weeks and only recently is the ballerina foot better. 

The more you lengthen, the harder and more painful it is to get your ballerina feet down.  Sucks this is another complication you can't get around

[Taller]

Is your daughter expected to keep full pronation and supination abilities of the radius and ulna, or does she have a single-bone forearm? Best of luck by the way. Fore arm lengthening is no walk in the park. Your daughter sounds like a very brave girl.

[jfk]

Hello, I am the parent of a 13 year old daughter undergoing a limb lengthening procedure on her right forearm. She had the surgery in July and has been doing relatively well. We are a little over 3 cm, with a goal of 5 cm. She is on regular pain medication, OxyContin extended release twice a day. But we are finding that she is having break through pain, which we are told is due to the stretching of the muscles and tendons, which makes sense. However, I am concerned about the breakthrough pain and having to increase her pain medication.

Although I see most posts here are for leg procedures, I am wondering if anyone can provide me some feedback on their experience with pain. Can you share your stories about the pain you encountered? How bad was it? Were some days better than others? Did you notice that the closer you got to your goal length, the pain increased due to stretching?

The doctor said if my daughter reached 5 cm, and her fingers seemed to maintain range of motion (which they are fine currently) we could shoot for 6-7cm. Unfortunately, she is close to "hitting the wall." I want her to get the most out of her surgery, but I fear if the pain continues, she will want to stop at 5cm.

Any experience you can share, I would appreciate!

I remember we had a thread talking about forearm lengthening and many guys said it is soooo dangerous and crazy!

Especially MRbones said he will guarantee that you lose functionality.

So please MRbones comment on her daughter who wants to do 5 or even 7 cm on forearm.

Where is the guarantee you were talking about?

And KiloKhan was the next guy who said it is sooo dangerous...

[Alu]

We can't quite comment on how much pain she might experience as she progresses through with her forearm lengthening, as you can tell by the fact that arm lengthening, let alone forearm lengthening, isn't attempted as much here. However, one thing is clear the more that is lengthened the more pain one might experience. A moderate amount of pain killers would suffice, but obviously please be careful with the doses to her as she's fairly young.

In any case, just listen to what she has to say about the pain tolerance. She's fairly young so her regenerative process is a lot better then those of us who might be older then her. But I must ask as to how her forearm is being lengthened because not many of us can quite imagine how that would look like; considering it's by far the more delicate limb out of all 4 in our bodies due to the dependence it has with hand functionality. 

[MRbones]

op, what is your childs reason for surgery. I am assuming 1 arm is shorter than the other yes?

is she a normal stature height with normal stature genetics? or a dwaft? how did this occur?

as for pain. perhaps taking a break, or slowing down might ease her pain.

[Dr.Ruan]

The  nerve  in  arm  is  different  from  the nerve  in  the  leg.It  is  damaged  easilier  than    the nerver in leg.Maybe  stoping lengthen and  observing  a few  days.If  your  daughter  has no pain  you  can  lengthen  again ,slower.If  she  feel  painful  a  lot  she  should  not strech  any more  or    shoren a little.Comparing short  arm no function of nerve is terrible.

[Ozymandias]

What Dr Franz Birkholtz said about cosmetic arm lengthening:

"Stay away. The forearm has too many fine structures in it and permanent damage can occur and lead to loss of hand function. Not worth it for cosmetic reasons!"

[jfk]

What Dr Franz Birkholtz said about cosmetic arm lengthening:

"Stay away. The forearm has too many fine structures in it and permanent damage can occur and lead to loss of hand function. Not worth it for cosmetic reasons!"

What my local orthopedic said about LL:

"Stay away. The soft tissues have too many fine structures in it and permanent damage can occur and lead to loss of leg function. Not worth it for cosmetic reasons!"

One year later. I was 8 cm taller walking as if nothing happened.

I do not want to do forearm lengtheing. To be honest, I would never ever do arm lengthening at all. But I just think it is possible.

[Ozymandias]

Yes, but there is a big difference between the nerves in the arm and in those in the legs. Just consider how many complex movements your hand can do, and compare with your feet. Also, a partial or total loss of function in one finger would be much more worse than losing function in one toe.

Of course it is possible. What Birkholtz said -and I agree- is that it is not worth for cosmetic reasons -unless you have abnormally short T-rex arms- as it means more risks and less possible benefits.

Glad to hear you fully recovered from a 8cm LL. As someone who is considering 4-5 cm in 2016, it is encouraging!

[jfk]

Yes, but there is a big difference between the nerves in the arm and in those in the legs. Just consider how many complex movements your hand can do, and compare with your feet. Also, a partial or total loss of function in one finger would be much more worse than losing function in one toe.

Of course it is possible. What Birkholtz said -and I agree- is that it is not worth for cosmetic reasons -unless you have abnormally short T-rex arms- as it means more risks and less possible benefits.

Glad to hear you fully recovered from a 8cm LL. As someone who is considering 4-5 cm in 2016, it is encouraging!

Yes you are totally right about the toe/finger comparison. And usually upper arm lengthening should be enough if someone has really short arms.

Well I can not run yet, but I should be able in the beginning of next year.

Wish you all the best for your LL! Hope you chose a good doctor!

[MRbones]

look dude. im just going to assume your intellectually obtuse.

I could post a bunch of different things but I thought id post just 1 thing to show you that children's bones auto heal as in self straighten and align even if their misaligned. the younger the better this occurs. when you become an adult you loose this abilty entirely.

the biology of the forearm dictates that the alignments will 100% become misaligned due to many different things such as curvature nd rotation changing the distance of the 2 bones during various levels of supination.

so here is an article from the university of minnesoda, masonic children's hospital.

note: they say that the bone matrix is formed the same way in children and adults, something which you said I was denying when I wasn't. when I said bone forms differently in children and adults I was not referring to the way bone matrix is formed. you stated that I was saying that, not me.

http://www.uofmchildrenshospital.org/healthlibrary/Article/85991

Remodeling

Remodeling happens more quickly in children than in adults. This means a child’s broken bone may not need to be lined up perfectly. As it heals, the bone straightens through remodeling. The younger a child is, the better the bones will line up

as you can clearly see a child's bones will auto align/heal. in an adult it will not. this is why you could theoretically perform forearm lengthening in a child only as the procedure will ALWAYS CAUSE MISALIGNMENT.

[jfk]

look dude. im just going to assume your intellectually obtuse.

I could post a bunch of different things but I thought id post just 1 thing to show you that children's bones auto heal as in self straighten and align even if their misaligned. the younger the better this occurs. when you become an adult you loose this abilty entirely.

the biology of the forearm dictates that the alignments will 100% become misaligned due to many different things such as curvature nd rotation changing the distance of the 2 bones during various levels of supination.

so here is an article from the university of minnesoda, masonic children's hospital.

note: they say that the bone matrix is formed the same way in children and adults, something which you said I was denying when I wasn't. when I said bone forms differently in children and adults I was not referring to the way bone matrix is formed. you stated that I was saying that, not me.

http://www.uofmchildrenshospital.org/healthlibrary/Article/85991

as you can clearly see a child's bones will auto align/heal. in an adult it will not. this is why you could theoretically perform forearm lengthening in a child only as the procedure will ALWAYS CAUSE MISALIGNMENT.

1. What you leave out is if you damage growth plates in a childs bone then the child may not grow as it should. BIG CONCERN!

2. This auto-healing you described works usually until you are 12 years old !

Well, her daughter is already 13. No auto-healing my friend! AND IT STILL WORKS!

Intellectually obtuse? Really?
MRbones, why so angry with the world?

[Sandra]

Just got an information from dr Bagirovs patient that doctor started to use special pain relief patches, and the girl who did the surgery says she hasn't got any pains, only uncomfortable to walk a little.But them patches are not allowed to use very often, because the body ll get used to it. Maybe u ll ask your daughters doctor about them?

[Want More]

op, what is your childs reason for surgery. I am assuming 1 arm is shorter than the other yes?

is she a normal stature height with normal stature genetics? or a dwaft? how did this occur?

as for pain. perhaps taking a break, or slowing down might ease her pain.

HI MRbones,i would like to ask you some question about your surgery,but i can't send you message on forum
Is any way possible to get in contact with you?

All the best