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[RB]

Wow walk looks very good. Keep it up!

[cam007]

Here is a video of my walking gait at 2 cm of lengthening: https://imgur.com/a/9G7OEin

wow you walk pretty good for a person who had a surgery. i guess your pre operation preparations really helped alot

[Zatoichi]

Looks fantastic! Well done.

[chasing_higher_dream]

@ FSchez: Thanks for the great advice. I will definitely keep a note on the muscle strength of my legs and try to incorporate some strength-building exercises too

@ justme11: Pain is very much subjective. Different people have different levels of the pain experience. Me having less pain does not guarantee that you too would have less pain (though I hope you too would have a pain-free experience). Overall, I can say the pain management at Dr. Betz is awesome.

@ RB: Thanks. Your diary has been quite helpful to my journey so far.

@ cam007: Yes, being a good shape pre-surgery definitely helps. Also, for me, starting stretching early on did help to improve my overall flexibility and also to be aware of the various muscle groups and the feeling you get when you stretch them. In this way, after the surgery, you are already educated on the various stretches and the muscle groups to focus on.

@ Zatoichi: Thanks, well wishes to your distraction phase too.

[chasing_higher_dream]

36 days post-surgery --- 3.05 cm lengthened

Video of my walk at 3 cm: https://imgur.com/a/lYk3z1a

Function
I think my function is still pretty good. I can bend my knees completely and let them touch my butt. I have managed to reduce my wide legs by intensifying the IT band stretches. There is still no sign of duck ass. I sent a video of my walk to Dr. Betz on Whatsapp and he seems to be happy with my progress so far, he said my walking gait looks good. Overall, I am happy with how things are progressing so far. Nonetheless, it's very hard to keep with the existing level of function and doing 3 sessions per day of physiotherapy (1 hour per session). It requires a lot of discipline and a good work ethic. Since I also work full time from home, almost 8 hours a day, hence sometimes I struggle to keep up with this insane schedule. Though I am giving my best!
Also, I have reduced the professional physiotherapy to 2 times a week, since I have gained confidence in the stretches I do by myself at home.

Clicking
I have reduced the number of clicks per day to 15 (0.78 mm) after reaching 2 cm.
Also, I am now again able to click by myself on both legs. Clicking is also very easy now and the pain is almost none. Though just after clicking, I can feel my muscles get stiff. I need to walk and stretch to again loosen up my muscles.

Pain
After 2.8 cm, I started to feel random fluctuating pain (3 out of 10) in front of the left shin bone area, sometimes around the left knee, sometimes on the right hamstring, the place of origin of pain varies. The pain usually comes when I walk and do some kind of movement, and when I am fatigued and tired. I have bought a Theragun (it's a kind of massage gun) and have been massaging the pain areas and it has definitely alleviated the pain so far. Let's see for how long this solution works.
Still, I did not have any continuous nerve pain.
Also, I am still taking my pain medications, since I am afraid that the pain may increase if I stop them completely.

Sleep
Sleep has been progressively getting better. I have been able to sleep 4-5 hours on a daily basis. No complaints on this side.

Misc
I am able to start noticing the 3 cm increase in height on day to day basis. I have met a couple of my friends and I can definitely feel the difference in terms of eye contact level. This is kind of motivating

[SirStretchAlot]

36 days post-surgery --- 3.05 cm lengthened

Video of my walk at 3 cm: https://imgur.com/a/lYk3z1a

Function
I think my function is still pretty good. I can bend my knees completely and let them touch my butt. I have managed to reduce my wide legs by intensifying the IT band stretches. There is still no sign of duck ass. I sent a video of my walk to Dr. Betz on Whatsapp and he seems to be happy with my progress so far, he said my walking gait looks good. Overall, I am happy with how things are progressing so far. Nonetheless, it's very hard to keep with the existing level of function and doing 3 sessions per day of physiotherapy (1 hour per session). It requires a lot of discipline and a good work ethic. Since I also work full time from home, almost 8 hours a day, hence sometimes I struggle to keep up with this insane schedule. Though I am giving my best!
Also, I have reduced the professional physiotherapy to 2 times a week, since I have gained confidence in the stretches I do by myself at home.

Clicking
I have reduced the number of clicks per day to 15 (0.78 mm) after reaching 2 cm.
Also, I am now again able to click by myself on both legs. Clicking is also very easy now and the pain is almost none. Though just after clicking, I can feel my muscles get stiff. I need to walk and stretch to again loosen up my muscles.

Pain
After 2.8 cm, I started to feel random fluctuating pain (3 out of 10) in front of the left shin bone area, sometimes around the left knee, sometimes on the right hamstring, the place of origin of pain varies. The pain usually comes when I walk and do some kind of movement, and when I am fatigued and tired. I have bought a Theragun (it's a kind of massage gun) and have been massaging the pain areas and it has definitely alleviated the pain so far. Let's see for how long this solution works.
Still, I did not have any continuous nerve pain.
Also, I am still taking my pain medications, since I am afraid that the pain may increase if I stop them completely.

Sleep
Sleep has been progressively getting better. I have been able to sleep 4-5 hours on a daily basis. No complaints on this side.

Misc
I am able to start noticing the 3 cm increase in height on day to day basis. I have met a couple of my friends and I can definitely feel the difference in terms of eye contact level. This is kind of motivating

Being able to keep your legs together until 3CM is a great achievement. Shows the work you have put in. 4-5 CM was a revealing period for me, as that's when my wide legs just blew up. I probably used up any reserved flexibility at that point.

Duckass and wide legs are 2 symptoms of the same issue -- tight IT Bands. You can choose to keep upright, with wider legs, or lean forward (butt back) to get narrower legs. People can choose to report either, but they reflect the same problem.

4-5 hours of sleep as well as sporadic nerve pain is common to everyone during lengthening. Working 8 hours a day is what's making you a hero. I can only work 4.

[chasing_higher_dream]

@SirStretchAlot: Thanks for the insight. I will definitely monitor myself more carefully as I am approaching that 4-5 cm mark.

[chasing_higher_dream]

49 days post-surgery --- 4.06 cm lengthened

Video of my walk at 4 cm: https://imgur.com/a/l5AYo8N

Function
My function is still very good. I can keep my legs closed, fold my knees completely and walk with a decent gait. After 3 cm, I intensified my IT band stretches. As a result, my IT bands do not feel tensed anymore and they have stretched very well till now. Though I have some increasing stiffness in the upper part of my quads. I am working on it. I also had a consultation with Peter at around 3.5 cm. He gave me some good advices to resolve the issues I am suffering from.

Clicking
I am still clicking at 15 clicks per day (0.78 mm). For now, this rate is perfect and I feel comfortable while lengthening.

Pain
The random pains I mentioned in the last post have gone. Luckily, I do not feel any pain right now. I am still taking my pain medications.

Sleep
Sleep also has got better. I now consistently sleep for around 6-7 hours per day (this may be due to the absence of any pain).

Misc
I will be doing X-rays of my femurs this week. I am excited to see the progress. I will post the X-rays once they are available.
Overall, I can say, I feel good and I am happy that I have roughly crossed half of the lengthening goal.

[SirStretchAlot]

It's simply amazing. You are just manning through the lenthening process with no complications and a full-time job.

How old are you btw, if you don't mind me asking.

I've lengthened about 6cm, but my walk is just ugly. Hard work pays off. Congrats!

[chasing_higher_dream]

@ SirStretchAlot:

Thanks a lot. It's difficult to follow the strict stretching regime, but somehow I have managed to stick with it.
I am 29 years old.

Maybe I can tell you some of the things which I do with ITB, which might help you:
1. When I sleep in bed or I am working (I work on a bed with a bed table). I stretch my legs straight on the bed and tie them with a soft cloth, such that both my legs are touching together. It gets tough after some time, but this definitely helps to keep the legs closed.
2. Use Theragun 15 minutes twice a day on ITB.
3. Do these ITB stretches 3 times a day with 60-second hold

[chasing_higher_dream]

I got the appointment for X-rays early.

X rays at 4.06 cm: https://imgur.com/a/uqNiXXG

[Antonio111111]

500 euro for consultation, 53000 for betzbone, and 6700 for nail removal is unnecessarily expensive, imo. Many problems with Betzbone failures as Betz apparently admitted  "...in recent years, he has greatly improved the quality of his nail, thus there are no bending issues anymore with Betzbone...".

Atleast he admitted the issues her had and its been fixed in latest nail.

What's the difference with betz old nail VS current stryde situation? Stryde has to be fixed too.

Same thing different nail. As long as nails are being improved then it's fine.

[chasing_higher_dream]

62 days post-surgery --- 5 cm lengthened

Video of my walk at 5 cm: https://imgur.com/a/WgBs5dq

Function
My function is still decent. I can still keep my legs closed together. The hip flexor and IT bands are still doing good and stretching well. The tightness of quads which I mentioned in the last post is now under control. As of now, my hamstring has been responding to lengthening and stretching in a fantastic manner, with no complaints on this part. I also went swimming in the last couple of weeks, it's really a great and fun way to exercise your legs. Going forward I will focus more on stretching hip flexors, quads, and IT bands. These groups are likely to cause some problems as I go forward.

Clicking
I am still clicking at 15 clicks per day (0.78 mm). Going forward, I will be more lenient with the rate of lengthening. If I feel too tight, I will reduce the rate to 0.52 mm for a couple of days. Let's see how it goes.

Pain
Overall pain is low. But I am facing some new kind of pain, it's near the front side of the right ankle. I do not feel this pain when I am walking or whenever I am in motion. But, whenever I am lying down on the bed, the throbbing pain starts inside the front of my right ankle and it is constant pain. I need to move my leg and turn it sideways (such that my entire foot is parallel and touching the bed) to relieve this pain. It is very annoying. It's hard to tell if this is nerve pain or something different.

Sleep
Sleep has degraded a little because of the above pain I mentioned. I sleep on average for 5-6 hours.

Misc
After the last X-rays, Dr. Betz said that the callus is looking good and everything is on track.
Overall, I still feel good. On weekdays, I am busy with work and stretching the entire day. On weekends, I try to socialize with friends as much as possible. This helps me to be in high spirits and I feel emotionally good.
After around 4 to 5 cm mark, I can clearly see the increase in height difference. Last week, I went to the office and met my colleague (he was almost 2 inches taller than me) after 3 months. When he saw me initially, I could see he was confused a little bit to see me and was constantly checking me from top to bottom. Now, I am the same height as he is. He did not say anything directly about my height, but just said you are looking good. It seems like somehow it's hard for people to comprehend that a person can grow in height in his late 20's. I enjoyed being with all of my colleagues and I did not feel short at all. It was a very satisfying feeling.

[Johnp86]

Your walking looks really good, I am impressed by your diary and progress. I saw those compression boots, idk if it can really make a difference during lengthening phase

https://www.electrostimulateur.ch/pressotherapie/572-compex-ayre.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI75zV28mQ8gIVoQZ7Ch1CiwC8EAQYASABEgLDJPD_BwE

[SirStretchAlot]

62 days post-surgery --- 5 cm lengthened

Video of my walk at 5 cm: https://imgur.com/a/WgBs5dq

Function
My function is still decent. I can still keep my legs closed together. The hip flexor and IT bands are still doing good and stretching well. The tightness of quads which I mentioned in the last post is now under control. As of now, my hamstring has been responding to lengthening and stretching in a fantastic manner, with no complaints on this part. I also went swimming in the last couple of weeks, it's really a great and fun way to exercise your legs. Going forward I will focus more on stretching hip flexors, quads, and IT bands. These groups are likely to cause some problems as I go forward.

Clicking
I am still clicking at 15 clicks per day (0.78 mm). Going forward, I will be more lenient with the rate of lengthening. If I feel too tight, I will reduce the rate to 0.52 mm for a couple of days. Let's see how it goes.

Pain
Overall pain is low. But I am facing some new kind of pain, it's near the front side of the right ankle. I do not feel this pain when I am walking or whenever I am in motion. But, whenever I am lying down on the bed, the throbbing pain starts inside the front of my right ankle and it is constant pain. I need to move my leg and turn it sideways (such that my entire foot is parallel and touching the bed) to relieve this pain. It is very annoying. It's hard to tell if this is nerve pain or something different.

Sleep
Sleep has degraded a little because of the above pain I mentioned. I sleep on average for 5-6 hours.

Misc
After the last X-rays, Dr. Betz said that the callus is looking good and everything is on track.
Overall, I still feel good. On weekdays, I am busy with work and stretching the entire day. On weekends, I try to socialize with friends as much as possible. This helps me to be in high spirits and I feel emotionally good.
After around 4 to 5 cm mark, I can clearly see the increase in height difference. Last week, I went to the office and met my colleague (he was almost 2 inches taller than me) after 3 months. When he saw me initially, I could see he was confused a little bit to see me and was constantly checking me from top to bottom. Now, I am the same height as he is. He did not say anything directly about my height, but just said you are looking good. It seems like somehow it's hard for people to comprehend that a person can grow in height in his late 20's. I enjoyed being with all of my colleagues and I did not feel short at all. It was a very satisfying feeling.

Simply fantastic. Keep up the hard work!

Ankle and knee pains are normal because your biomechanics has changed. Your thighs have yet to grow the muscles to compenstate for the forward lean resulting from lengthened femurs.

Try to land on your heels consciously when walking and it will get better.

[chasing_higher_dream]

@ Johnp86: Thanks. I will have a look at the compression boots.

@ SirStretchAlot: Thanks, man. Yes, minor pains here and there are part of the process. I am waiting for the day when I am done with lengthening How are you doing? How many cm did you reach? I saw your diary, but it has not been updated recently.

[LU213]

Hi,
Your diary is encouraging.  I am scheduled with Dr. Betz in January but I am now also considering G-Nail with Gotikas and precise 2.2 because they would be earlier and right now my classes are still online due to COVID. Are you making this progress without having the ITB release?

[chasing_higher_dream]

@ LU213: Thanks. I had so far a positive experience with Dr. Betz and his team and can recommend him.
I did not have the ITB released, Dr. Betz also prefers to not do so. In his opinion, there is no point in damaging a good tissue as it's not necessary since it can stretch with a good amount of PT (though it may take a little longer) and he has proven this through countless previous patients he has been operating on over the years.

In my experience, I have been religiously doing stretching for 2-3 hours every day, 7 days a week. And my ITB seems to have stretched pretty fine and I also do not have any wide legs anymore!

[LU213]

Thank you.  That relieves some anxiety.

[DonBones]

Fantastic progress @chasing_higher_dream, Dr B and Daniela hold you in high esteem btw! Good luck for the final few cms

[RB]

Great progress and walk mate, keep it up you are almost there!

[SirStretchAlot]

@ LU213: Thanks. I had so far a positive experience with Dr. Betz and his team and can recommend him.
I did not have the ITB released, Dr. Betz also prefers to not do so. In his opinion, there is no point in damaging a good tissue as it's not necessary since it can stretch with a good amount of PT (though it may take a little longer) and he has proven this through countless previous patients he has been operating on over the years.

In my experience, I have been religiously doing stretching for 2-3 hours every day, 7 days a week. And my ITB seems to have stretched pretty fine and I also do not have any wide legs anymore!

Yeah 2-3 hours everyday is the key here. With ITB released, my wide legs narrowed 30min of stretching a day, though I think how you stretch is just as important.

[chasing_higher_dream]

@DonBones: Thanks for the good wishes. I am glad to hear this
How are you doing? I guess you had your surgery scheduled by end of June/July.

@RB: Thanks, mate.

@ SirStretchAlot: I am glad to know that you have managed to narrow your wide legs too! Yes you are right - the form, intensity, and duration of the stretch are also important.

[slender]

Hey @chasing_higher_dream!

Just finished reading the diary. Thats some crazy progress without any soft tissue releases, your work ethic and patience must be insane. When you say 2-3 hours stretching do you mean just the IT Band alone?

[chasing_higher_dream]

Hey @chasing_higher_dream!

Just finished reading the diary. Thats some crazy progress without any soft tissue releases, your work ethic and patience must be insane. When you say 2-3 hours stretching do you mean just the IT Band alone?

@slender: Thanks. The 2-3 hours of stretching per day involves all of the muscle groups. It takes me roughly 45 mins to 1 hour to stretch all of my muscle groups. So, I do 2 to 3 sessions of this per day. One session in the morning as soon as I get up, one in the afternoon (I sometimes reduce the duration of this session in afternoon, since I am working fulltime), and one before I go to bed.

[chasing_higher_dream]

76 days post-surgery --- 6 cm lengthened

Video of my walk at 6 cm: https://imgur.com/a/9J5MsR5

Function
Most of my function is still intact. Nothing has changed much. My muscles are now getting tighter especially my hip flexors and piriformis. I can feel it while I am stretching. The range of motion of the stretch involving my hip flexor muscle has reduced. Luckily, I do not have wide legs or duck ass as of now. Though I am suffering from a new problem, my pelvis has started to rotate towards the left. So when I stand straight my pelvis turns to the left by 10 to 15 degrees while my legs point straight. This has resulted in my walking gait not being so smooth as it can be. I am working with my physiotherapist to identify which muscle group is causing this pelvis tilt and possibly fix this issue (I go to professional physiotherapist once a week).

Clicking
The resistance to click is now further reduced and now it's a child's play to click. I am still clicking at 15 clicks per day (0.78 mm).

Pain
Overall pain is low. The ankle pain in the front side of the right leg stated in my previous post seems to be interlinked with the pelvis rotation problem. The rotated pelvis to left has resulted in bringing the right side of the pelvis little front, thereby bringing the weight of the body more to the front side of my right leg, thereby putting more pressure on the front side of my ankle. I hope that I find a solution to this problem. Also, I am still taking my pain killer medications.

Sleep
Sleep has further degraded. I feel the tightness of the muscles when I sleep, I roll around to relieve some of the tightness. Also, sometimes I wake up due to my tight muscles. I sleep on average for 5 hours now at night.

Misc
Overall, I think my condition is still good. It's astonishing to see how days are passing so slow. I am counting every day as it passes. I am waiting for the day when I am done with lengthening.
I was meeting my friends 2 days before in a restaurant, one of my female friends commented that I am looking thinner and good. She asked if I have loosened any weight. I just shrugged and said yes and tried to switch the topic. It seems like people around me have started to notice something's different about me

[SirStretchAlot]

Fantatic progress

1) I have the exact pelvis tilt. It's standard trendelenburg where your right gluteous muscles have atropied. Notice that sitting on hard surfaces will become increasingly hard for you because you've lost so much glute muscles. Glute training will put your gait back on track.

2) The tightness is coming from your clicking rate. I dropped to 10 clicks or 0.52mm starting from 5cm. I'm around 7.5cm right now and I still have no tightness. I understand you want it to end asap, but you should listen to your body.

[slender]

@chasing_higher_dream: Dude it only looks like you've bumped your hip or something. Not even close to breaking both your femurs... that PT is really paying off! I bet it feels amazing to have people notice all the money and hard work you've put into this.

@SirStretchAlot: I find it amazing that you can drop down to 0.5mm a day without worry of pre-consolidation. This should be stated as a PRO for the mechanical nails. Do you think that the tightness can be reduced with even more PT or is it just a cost of lengthening rate that we have to deal with?

[chasing_higher_dream]

Fantatic progress

1) I have the exact pelvis tilt. It's standard trendelenburg where your right gluteous muscles have atropied. Notice that sitting on hard surfaces will become increasingly hard for you because you've lost so much glute muscles. Glute training will put your gait back on track.

2) The tightness is coming from your clicking rate. I dropped to 10 clicks or 0.52mm starting from 5cm. I'm around 7.5cm right now and I still have no tightness. I understand you want it to end asap, but you should listen to your body.

- Thanks, for the info. I researched on the internet regarding "standard trendelenburg" and yes, the condition matches with what I am suffering from. My physiotherapist also said that I need to strengthen my butt muscles to fix this. I will be starting training soon to fix this.

- Yes, probably you are right. I will experiment and find which number of clicks my body is comfortable with and reduce it accordingly.

[chasing_higher_dream]

76 days post-surgery --- 6 cm lengthened

Video of my walk at 6 cm: https://imgur.com/a/9J5MsR5

Function
Most of my function is still intact. Nothing has changed much. My muscles are now getting tighter especially my hip flexors and piriformis. I can feel it while I am stretching. The range of motion of the stretch involving my hip flexor muscle has reduced. Luckily, I do not have wide legs or duck ass as of now. Though I am suffering from a new problem, my pelvis has started to rotate towards the left. So when I stand straight my pelvis turns to the left by 10 to 15 degrees while my legs point straight. This has resulted in my walking gait not being so smooth as it can be. I am working with my physiotherapist to identify which muscle group is causing this pelvis tilt and possibly fix this issue (I go to professional physiotherapist once a week).

Clicking
The resistance to click is now further reduced and now it's a child's play to click. I am still clicking at 15 clicks per day (0.78 mm).

Pain
Overall pain is low. The ankle pain in the front side of the right leg stated in my previous post seems to be interlinked with the pelvis rotation problem. The rotated pelvis to left has resulted in bringing the right side of the pelvis little front, thereby bringing the weight of the body more to the front side of my right leg, thereby putting more pressure on the front side of my ankle. I hope that I find a solution to this problem. Also, I am still taking my pain killer medications.

Sleep
Sleep has further degraded. I feel the tightness of the muscles when I sleep, I roll around to relieve some of the tightness. Also, sometimes I wake up due to my tight muscles. I sleep on average for 5 hours now at night.

Misc
Overall, I think my condition is still good. It's astonishing to see how days are passing so slow. I am counting every day as it passes. I am waiting for the day when I am done with lengthening.
I was meeting my friends 2 days before in a restaurant, one of my female friends commented that I am looking thinner and good. She asked if I have loosened any weight. I just shrugged and said yes and tried to switch the topic. It seems like people around me have started to notice something's different about me

X-ray at 6cm: https://imgur.com/a/Fp7t3M2

[SirStretchAlot]

@slender
Doctors only really encourage rapid lengthening for patients on non-weightbearing nails, because they're wasting muscle everyday. Another reason as with Betz, is so that patients don't get lazy with PT. Your bones consolidate at an average rate of 0.25mm per day, and Giotikas recommends 0.5mm lengthening if returning home. Preconsolidation is rare and only applies for individuals with rapid bone healing. People usually take months to consolidate after lengthening, so it is almost a non-issue for most people. But as you said, we can apply more force on mechanical nails, so hardening callus is less of a problem.

@chasing_higher_dream
Your x-ray looks fantastic. There's also a lot of room for slowing, but do confirm with Betz.