So is the recovery better long term with externals on the tibias
Would over all the femurs be better for fully recovery and hope to play sports again
Let's put it this way: the less you lengthen, the better chance you have of retaining your prior fitness levels. I don't know which part of your leg is the safest to lengthen, to be honest. Not enough veterans return to tell us about their experience. Most of them just tend to move on with their "new" life.
If I had the money and little time away from life, I would do femurs first because your bones consolidate faster.
For instance, if you were on summer holidays from school/college, you could do your femurs within 2.5 months and return home in time for the first semester.
For tibiae, it would take you at least 3 months to lengthening, if you're lucky.
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Seeing as you're interested in sports and are interested in tibial lengthening, I would highly advice against having a rod/nail inserted inside your tibia bone because it prevents it from healing properly and this leaves a 30% risk of developing permanent knee-pain.
If you choose tibial lengthening without a rod, you need to leave your frames on after your finish lengthening and wait for your bones to consolidate, which can take several months depending on how much you lengthen.