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[Wannabegiant]

How important is it to keep the legs straight during the day and night? I have heard that bending the knee even a little during sleep can in the long run lead to bone misalignment and also prevent you from straightening your knees completely if this isnt adjusted before consolidation, how true is this and how big a risk?

My doctor gave me a plastic plate on the lower end of the bed so that my ilizarov rings on the ankles would lay on them, preventing the rings from pushing down into the soft bed and thus my knees bending a little.

during the day i have mostly layed on the bed without it since i got home, my bed is not that soft so my legs are fairly straight and i still have no problem bending my knees and straightening them out completely, however i have only lengthened 1 cm so far.

during the night i try to sleep with a hard surface plate in my bed to keep my knees straigthened. However how big of a risk is this misalignment and how much effort is needed to prevent it?

Thank you in advance

[Medium Drink Of Water]

Don't worry about it.  I kept a pillow under my knees at all times for maximum comfort, and I don't have knee contracture or misalignment now.

Your recovery might take longer, but it's a good tradeoff in my opinion.  Keeping your knees locked at all times is no way to live, not even just for a few months.

[Wannabegiant]

Don't worry about it.  I kept a pillow under my knees at all times for maximum comfort, and I don't have knee contracture or misalignment now.

Your recovery might take longer, but it's a good tradeoff in my opinion.  Keeping your knees locked at all times is no way to live, not even just for a few months.

Thank you mate, that was the answer i was hoping for.

Its extremely uncomfortable to keep the knees straight at all times. Fortunately it seems stretching sometimes and walking is enough for me to keep full range of motion with my knees so far, despite me not having any plastic plate under my feet during the nights.

[Medium Drink Of Water]

It'll get harder to keep your ROM as you lengthen, but fortunately there are sandbags for that.  Yes, actual bags full of sand that you put on your knees to straighten them out.  That was one of the forms of physical therapy they had us do in Beijing.

[Wannabegiant]

It'll get harder to keep your ROM as you lengthen, but fortunately there are sandbags for that.  Yes, actual bags full of sand that you put on your knees to straighten them out.  That was one of the forms of physical therapy they had us do in Beijing.

Gotcha, how big where those sandbags approximately and how heavy? And how long did you have them on your knees per session? how many sessions per day?

sorry for all the questions but it would be very helpful! So far what i have been doing in terms of exercise to prevent knee bend is to put a large pillow under my feet so that my legs are at an upwards angle, then press down on my knees one at a time, to straighten them out and stretch.

[RGKEY]

Yeah use sand bags I was doing about 15 kilos.

If you are in the consolidation face then you must really hurry up.
The more you keep your knee straight the best.

You ask about how many sets of times you should you do it a day. The anwser is easy budy. As much as you can resist. That's just the true. You should have this problem only during lengthening not during consolidation. Many doctors only look your knee and make a decision base on that. But it is necessary for them to look at your side x-ray that's the best way to see if there is a knee contraction. I developed some knee contraction, but it was hard to see, you could only see it on the x-ray. If you have ilizarov it should be fixable by turning the back rods and turning back the front rods. The worse part of knee contraction is not not be able to stand straight,  it is that you might develope arthritis In the future ((((( keeping your knee straight sucks ive been there!!!! Now I ask you, like someone said keeping your knee straight all day is not way to live even for few months, well the other option is risking risking arthritis in the future for the rest of your life. So it's your decision.  You signed up for leg lengthening im sorry.

[Wannabegiant]

Yeah use sand bags I was doing about 15 kilos.

If you are in the consolidation face then you must really hurry up.
The more you keep your knee straight the best.

You ask about how many sets of times you should you do it a day. The anwser is easy budy. As much as you can resist. That's just the true. You should have this problem only during lengthening not during consolidation. Many doctors only look your knee and make a decision base on that. But it is necessary for them to look at your side x-ray that's the best way to see if there is a knee contraction. I developed some knee contraction, but it was hard to see, you could only see it on the x-ray. If you have ilizarov it should be fixable by turning the back rods and turning back the front rods. The worse part of knee contraction is not not be able to stand straight,  it is that you might develope arthritis In the future ((((( keeping your knee straight sucks ive been there!!!! Now I ask you, like someone said keeping your knee straight all day is not way to live even for few months, well the other option is risking risking arthritis in the future for the rest of your life. So it's your decision.  You signed up for leg lengthening im sorry.

Im early in the lengthening phase still, and i have no problem straightening my knees so far. However it is extremely uncomfortable to keep them locked (meaning as straight as possible, almost to the point of bending in the opposite direction), i do it for some periods of time, but it is impossible to sleep like that for me, i have hard time sleeping as it is with all the sensations you feel in the legs during the night.

Also with those stretching exercises like the sandbags, i think i will be fine, as long as i can still get my knees straightened completely once im done with lengthening phase. Its important to keep in mind that im only doing 4 cms, so misalignment is less of a risk for me.

[Medium Drink Of Water]

The ones Beijing used were about five pounds each, but sometimes we stacked them on our knees for more resistance.  I used them for 30 minutes per session and did 2-3 sessions per day.

As long as you CAN straighten the legs, you're fine.  Even if it takes a lot of sandbagging and stretching to get there.

[RGKEY]

Oh 4cms)) then u r fine my friend))) i started developing contraction around 6cms. But still, you should stretch, use the sandbags I was stretching 5 times for about 40 minutes each time. But i dont thibk u need it so much. Maybe 3 times a day its fine))) 4cms ia very little u shouldnt have any problem

[Wannabegiant]

Thank you guys for all the help