Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[gastly47]

Hey i'm currently doing LL and I was wondering how long post op/frame removal it usually takes or the time it took to be able to return to be able to stand for hours on end at a job that required you to do so, given that you aren't running around so often but still being required to be up on your feet for a given amount (4-6 hours of time)?

[Chris]

About 4 moth after surgery, but I only lengthened 2,3cm.
I've been walking without crutches since then and can stand for as long as I want to.
But I can't walk fast or even run yet. Maybe I could, but I don't want to break or bend anything...

Try to stand up as often as possible during lengthening and do your exercises, it helps a lot to fight muscle atrophy.

[gastly47]

I'm doing externals and my doctor told me standing or walking with these on would cause compression and I would lose some of the height that i've gained as a result?

[Chris]

Yes, bending is possible, but if I were you, I would lengthen by additional 2-3mm and stand up. Or are you in consolidation phase already?
Just get a confirmation from your doctor that your frames are indeed weight-bearing, but they should be.

[ouroboros]

I'm doing externals and my doctor told me standing or walking with these on would cause compression and I would lose some of the height that i've gained as a result?

Can you tell us who your doc is? Or at least in which country did you have the operation?

Advice seems to vary from doctor to doctor, and from device being used. Not all illizarov/externals are the same (number or rings used, number of pin sites, number of wires, location of osteotomy, etc.).

You obviously trusted your doctor to undergo this surgery in the first place, so it would make sense to follow his advice for a successful recovery.

Many of us can give you our opinion of what to do, based on what we read on forums, but most did not go to medical school.

[llendpoint]

Where can the bone compress using externals?
Is it where the bone was broken?
Or is it where pins leave little holes when the frame is taken off?
Or is it both?

[Chris]

Where can the bone compress using externals?
Is it where the bone was broken?
Or is it where pins leave little holes when the frame is taken off?
Or is it both?

Your body weight and the vibrations from walking can cause the pins to bend, thus the upper part of the bone glides downwards. In fact, that happens quite often.
It can happen with the frames still attached during both the lengthening and consolidation phases and it can also happen with the frames removed if the new formed bone is not perfectly consolidated yet (still soft callus).