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[tallerforever]

Hi, it is been a while since I found this forum, I have a lttle confusion about the tibia lengthening. It is obvious to do femur LL with stryde, but how about the tibia? According to what I learned, the safe length for both device is around 6.5cm, but it seems that Lon could solve the deformity of calf, I have a little bowleg, just a little yet. And maybe with stryde, you will recovery and come back to work earlier. But how about complications, some LLers said that Lon can cause superfical infection, which is not a big problem under antibiotic medicine, however, the permanent pain could happen after Lon, right? On the contrary, the PE(pulmonary embolism) seems common in internal device like stryde, and even I heard that it can result in persistent  knee pain, I am not sure about it. Is there anybody could answer it? I am really appreciate it. Thanks! 
PS. I probably will go with Dr. donghoon or Dr. Pahair, it depends on my financial situation. I think the risk of PE is not high at Korea hospital with advanced devices, but at Mumai, although our senior members said the hospital is fine and PT/Docs are skiLL Forumul, to be honest, I am lack of confidence about the infrastructure there.

[cyborg4life]

Here's a clip of a message I sent to someone earlier that may help answer your questions about complications that may arise...


Yeah, of course the doctors won't "highlight" the complications for you as they don't want you to worry too much. But my doctor did mention there were potential complications as mentioned and here's what she basically said:

1. "It's possible to get a non-union or pre-consolidation of the bone should you not follow the distraction instructions to a T."

Obviously they tell you how the ERC can go retrograde in case of an emergency but I was ever so meticulously diligent to not mess up.

IF a early consolidation occurs, they have to perform another osteotomy and if non-union they'll have to perform compression and add bony matrix from hip bone or somewhere....aka not something you want or should worry about. Just distract perfectly as you can.

2. "Keep taking your blood thinner injection in your stomach each day to avoid a thrombosis and potential embolism"

Basically you take your heparin or whatever they give you and avoid fish oil like the plague during the distraction and you won't have to worry about a blood clot forming and blockading any flow or expedite or impede bone healing causing non-union or pre-consolidation.

3. "Infection is easily avoided if you clean your (rod & screw) incision sites via sanitary damp cloth for a few weeks until stitches are removed."

Just think of this like you have a normal wound/cut and you need to keep it clean to avoid infection. Same deal. Don't let it rub on unsanitary services or just wear clean, loose pants.

4. "Chances of nail breaking is unlikely but we had a case of a kid who walked on his too soon and it did break. DO NOT DO THIS and just wait until we tell you to apply pressure with crutch"

Granted this one applies to me more as I had the original PRECICE 1 done right after it's release, in fact I was in the pilot study, but if you're getting STRYDE done you should be perfectly fine. Still, until they tell you otherwise I would recommend using crutches or walker to avoid any potential breaking.

5. "Dropfoot, stiffness and other loss of ROM can be avoided so long as you attend all your Physical Therapy sessions".

I knew that my knee and ankle were really tight from lack of use and she warned me that IF I didn't keep up with my PT I could possibly permanently lose my ROM. I said heeeccckkkk NOOOO! So even after therapy was done I went home and did more therapy to ensure I'd lose nothing and so I could actually get better faster. Because if you can dodge the loss-of-flexibility bullet, you have nothing to worry about when you get hardware removed.

6. "Stay motivated! Don't get lazy! It's gonna be a long process but when you get through it you'll be back, good as new, just even legs and a bit taller".

This one I took to heart and I assumed it meant as stated. So I kept my goal of resuming my athletics at an even higher level in front of my mind and focused all my daily efforts on getting back there. It made me mentally stronger that that's when I really owned the name of 'Cyborg' and the '4-life' portion related to the 4 most important aspects of life, aka the 4 organs of perception and that which I needed to get through this trying time: mind, body, heart and spirit (4 things necessary to life) hence the name Cyborg4Life.


Hope this helps

[tallerforever]

Hey mate, your name is so coooooool, like a terminator or something. The experience you shared is helpful. But I am not familiar with precice 1, it is similar to precice 2? without an exterior frame? BTW, do you have any idea about permanent pain around the knee, sounds like it could happen if you use Stryde for Tibia. Which one do you prefer, Lon or Stryde. Thanks!

[cyborg4life]

So there are 3 generations of internal rods: Precice 1 (original-the one I had-parts assembled prior to surgery), Precice 2 (I believe a bit stronger, still couldn't walk until distraction phase was done but it was not in parts, it was a solid rod making it stronger) and finally the 3rd gen is Stryde which is by far the strongest hence why patients can walk on legs post-op so much sooner than if other methods are used. Also more expensive.

As far as permanent knee pain after stryde in tibias, I haven't really heard reasons why it would be but it's probably because the person who told you this either didn't rehab properly or their bones weren't ideal for the steel stryde nail. Not sure but if I were to do it again I would do Stryde in femurs most likely of course the doc will be the ideal decision maker here