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[Johnp86]

Congrats bro! Almost there! Very happy for you and thanks for the feedback

[Limbfan2020]

RB
What's ur impression on Betz?Did he mention something about retirement?

[chasing_higher_dream]

76 days post-surgery - 6.06cm taller

Hey guys,

I have crossed the 6cm mark so thought I would provide an update. Generally I am feeling ok, so I am confident I will be able to press on to my goal of 7cm, although things are getting much more difficult.

Improvements:

-My nerve pain is essentially gone. I attribute this to the pregabalin starting to take effect and clearly having a positive effect on supressing the nerve pain (burning sensation and shooting pains), although my right shin remains numb, it is no longer an issue due to the lack of nerve pain resulting from it.

-Wide legs continue to close in while using the crutches, so I assume walking as much as possible is the key to overcoming this issue. I expect to make even more progress with this when consolidation starts, particularly with my unassisted walk as the legs are still quite wide without crutches due to duck ass and needing additional balance without a walking aid.

-My legs now get less fatigued when walking long distances.

-Started hydrotherapy last week and this is great for practising your gait in the water without getting too fatigued and also helps strengthen all muscle groups in the legs due to the resistance of walking in the water. I also squat and do other water based exercises. I wish I had started this earlier in the process.

Obstacles:

-Duck ass has become slightly worse. It is more noticeable now and despite my best efforts to fight against it, it is a losing battle while I am still lengthening. The key is to stretch the hip flexors (which I have been doing a crapload of) and strengthen the glutes and abs. This will be my main focus during consolidation and there is no reason why I can't reduce the duck ass in a reasonable time frame by following a vigorous strengthening program.

-Tightness is increasing which makes sense as I cross the 6cm mark. I find that it is manageable by stretching 3/4 times per day and increasing the intensity of each stretch helps reduce tightness/stiffness. My PT also provides a deep tissue massage now which helps.

-Sleep has become challenging again due to the increased tightness. I still sleep but it is more challenging to get as much as sleep as I was getting in the 3-5cm period.

-Frustrated that my unassisted walk isn't where I want it to be yet. It is very wide with a lot of hip sway. Its frustrating but I know that consolidation will be where I make the greatest gains in this area.

Overall, I feel in good spirits and am pushing to my goal of 7cm (max goal of 7.5cm). I have less than 2 weeks of lengthening left and while I am so over the whole process, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and just need to dig deep to get there.

As always, feel free to ask any questions!

Woahhh, that is some great news, RB! Congrats, you are almost there.
I would say if your condition is good, go for 7.5 cm. Or heck even 8 cm.
Btw, I am curious what was your tibia to femur ratio pre-surgery? If it's less, then it makes sense to not lengthen more, as it may skew up proportions.

Anyway, I wish you luck for a speedy recovery.

[RB]

Congrats bro! Almost there! Very happy for you and thanks for the feedback

Thanks bro!

RB
What's ur impression on Betz?Did he mention something about retirement?

My impression of Betz is very good, he strikes me as a doctor who is very passionate about what he does. He peformed my surgery prior to his back surgery so I'm not sure if anything has changed with him but he seemed the same to me when I saw him just before I left Germany (after his surgery). No, he did not mention anything about retirement.

Woahhh, that is some great news, RB! Congrats, you are almost there.
I would say if your condition is good, go for 7.5 cm. Or heck even 8 cm.
Btw, I am curious what was your tibia to femur ratio pre-surgery? If it's less, then it makes sense to not lengthen more, as it may skew up proportions.

Anyway, I wish you luck for a speedy recovery.

Thanks man, appreciate the support as always!

My ratio pre-surgery was 0.85 so I've always had short femurs relative to my tibias. However, when I look in the mirror when nked, my femurs are starting to look very long but this could also be because they are quite skinny at the moment. I'd consider going to 7.5cm but I think 7/7.5 would be the max I'd go to for recovery reasons and the fact that I will reach my goal of 5'7 with 7cm so I don't see the need to do any extra. Proportions aren't as important to me but the femurs are starting to look quite long for sure.

[Zatoichi]

Fantastic news and update RB!

Really good to read a successful and relatively trouble-free experience to a very decent length!

May I know your experiences with x-rays and acquisition frequency? Have you been able to gauge progress properly, with the lower frequency of x-raying, with this nail? Have you seen recent progress - what was the feedback? For peace of mind, I would happily arrange to do more regular x-rays (e.g.; every 2-3 weeks), but I wanted to know if that was actually an issue/worry that those going through the process faced.

Good luck the final few mm!

[RB]

Fantastic news and update RB!

Really good to read a successful and relatively trouble-free experience to a very decent length!

May I know your experiences with x-rays and acquisition frequency? Have you been able to gauge progress properly, with the lower frequency of x-raying, with this nail? Have you seen recent progress - what was the feedback? For peace of mind, I would happily arrange to do more regular x-rays (e.g.; every 2-3 weeks), but I wanted to know if that was actually an issue/worry that those going through the process faced.

Good luck the final few mm!

Thanks for the support Zatoichi!

I requested one extra x-ray before I left Germany as I wanted to make sure I was generating sufficient callous early on. Once I saw there was good growth and then on my most recent one a few weeks ago showing the same thing, I was confident in the lower frequency from then until the end of lengthening. The feedback on my most recent x-ray was very good, however if it wasn't, I would request additional x-rays to monitor progress. I guess it depends on your individual progress but it doesn't hurt to get x-rays more frequently anyway.

The good thing about mechanical nails is, as long as you record the clicks properly (I have been religious in how I record clicks), you can gauge exactly how much you have lengthened at any point in time with total accuracy as each click produces the same exact distance, something which is not possible with magnetic nails (as progress needs to be checked more frequently to determine length gained). So as long as callous growth is good in the first few x-rays, you won't need too many x-rays due to the accurate tracking of length gained. This is one advantage of mechanical nails that is rarely spoken about.

[sportiveshort]

Looks like you are doing great mate, good to hear.
I am constantly reading your updates as they are extremely helpful.

[RB]

Looks like you are doing great mate, good to hear.
I am constantly reading your updates as they are extremely helpful.

Thanks mate, glad to hear they have been helpful!

[Bagga]

Jon

Thank you for sharing ...it really gave me two Cs - Courage and Confidence!
 

[Limblengtheningwarrior]

Wish you all the best, RB

[DonBones]

Hope all is well in Down Under, you are recovering as well as you used to and perhaps have even reached your goal by now

[RB]

90 days post-surgery - 7.1cm taller

And the lengthening journey has finally come to an end! Today I did my last clicks to exceed my pre-surgery goal of 7cm, ending with roughly 7.1cm of distracted height according to my lengthening sheet. I debated whether I should continue to 8 or even 7.5, but I am incredibly happy with 7.1, my height neurosis is essentially gone (and I'm not even fully recovered) and I don't want to unnecessarily extend my recovery timeline as from 6.5cm onwards, things have started to become much harder. I also believe that 7cm is the perfect sweet spot for femur lengthening as you are getting a great return on investment, while being a little safer and beneficial for athletic recovery than 8cm+. While you are lengthening, there are days where it seems like you will never reach the day when you hit your goal, but the day does come and wow does it feel great!

It has been an incredibly tough and rewarding journey and I will go into the psychological aspect/impact in more detail in a future post. I'd like to thank all of you guys for following my diary and for your support and encouragement. I will be getting an x-ray tomorrow so I may have to a few clicks here and there if there is any discrepancy. For now, my main goal is recovery - being able to walk normally again and getting rid of this pesky duck ass is my top priority lol.

As always, feel free to ask any questions.

RB

[DonBones]

90 days post-surgery - 7.1cm taller

And the lengthening journey has finally come to an end! Today I did my last clicks to exceed my pre-surgery goal of 7cm, ending with roughly 7.1cm of distracted height according to my lengthening sheet. I debated whether I should continue to 8 or even 7.5, but I am incredibly happy with 7.1, my height neurosis is essentially gone (and I'm not even fully recovered) and I don't want to unnecessarily extend my recovery timeline as from 6.5cm onwards, things have started to become much harder. I also believe that 7cm is the perfect sweet spot for femur lengthening as you are getting a great return on investment, while being a little safer and beneficial for athletic recovery than 8cm+. While you are lengthening, there are days where it seems like you will never reach the day when you hit your goal, but the day does come and wow does it feel great!

It has been an incredibly tough and rewarding journey and I will go into the psychological aspect/impact in more detail in a future post. I'd like to thank all of you guys for following my diary and for your support and encouragement. I will be getting an x-ray tomorrow so I may have to a few clicks here and there if there is any discrepancy. For now, my main goal is recovery - being able to walk normally again and getting rid of this pesky duck ass is my top priority lol.

As always, feel free to ask any questions.

RB

That is fantastic to hear I am glad it was relatively smooth for you so far and hope it will continue this way.

What is your new height now?

[RB]

That is fantastic to hear I am glad it was relatively smooth for you so far and hope it will continue this way.

What is your new height now?

Thanks man appreciate the support!

I haven’t officially measured since duck ass would be taking some height away but prior to surgery I measured exactly 163 in the afternoon so if my lengthening is accurate, once I improve my posture I should be roughly 170.1cm

[chasing_higher_dream]

Wow, I was eagerly waiting for this update from you

I am happy that your height neurosis is at bay now! Overall, I felt you had a smooth experience and I am glad of it.
The tough part is done! Going forward, I wish you the best of luck for the consolidation phase.

[Zatoichi]

This is fantastic news! Great to hear about the positive outcome.

I know the process must have felt like forever for you, but I've followed this diary from the first post, and it seems you've completed in no time at all!

Good luck with consolidation and getting back to normal.

[TheAlchemist]

Congrats RB!

[Johnp86]

Congratulations man, 7cm is amazing!

[ab608]

Congratulations RB!

[PerfectBody]

Congratulations champion! We're proud of you!!!!

[SirStretchAlot]

Thanks man appreciate the support!

I haven’t officially measured since duck ass would be taking some height away but prior to surgery I measured exactly 163 in the afternoon so if my lengthening is accurate, once I improve my posture I should be roughly 170.1cm

Congrats RB!

A note on measured height. You tend to lose 1mm for every cm lengthened due to the curviture of the femur. If you lengthened 7.1, you should expect around 6.4 in increased height after you recover from duckass.

Since I've been tracking my measured height vs clicks, there is already a 7mm difference, not all attributable to wide-legs. So I'd lengthen to 7.8-8cm, to guarantee youself a final height of 170.

Regardless, congrats on such a huge milestone.

[RB]

Wow, I was eagerly waiting for this update from you

I am happy that your height neurosis is at bay now! Overall, I felt you had a smooth experience and I am glad of it.
The tough part is done! Going forward, I wish you the best of luck for the consolidation phase.

This is fantastic news! Great to hear about the positive outcome.

I know the process must have felt like forever for you, but I've followed this diary from the first post, and it seems you've completed in no time at all!

Good luck with consolidation and getting back to normal.

Congrats RB!

Congratulations man, 7cm is amazing!

Congratulations champion! We're proud of you!!!!

Thanks guys! The support means a lot

Congrats RB!

A note on measured height. You tend to lose 1mm for every cm lengthened due to the curviture of the femur. If you lengthened 7.1, you should expect around 6.4 in increased height after you recover from duckass.

Since I've been tracking my measured height vs clicks, there is already a 7mm difference, not all attributable to wide-legs. So I'd lengthen to 7.8-8cm, to guarantee youself a final height of 170.

Regardless, congrats on such a huge milestone.

Thanks man!

That's a good point regarding the curvature of the femur and something that I was aware of but didn't really factor in. Even if I lost a bit and am in the 6's I am still fine with that as the few mm's lost aren't a huge concern to me and can round myself up to 5'7. I will consider continuing but at this stage I am just so over the whole process and happy to be finished that I will likely stay at 7. 1mm seems like a lot to lose per cm, is that 100% confirmed to happen?

[chasing_higher_dream]

Well, there is indeed some minor loss when you lengthen femurs and is very much individualistic. There is a thread talking in depth regarding this: http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=66448.0

Though, IMO, I highly doubt that there would loss of 1 mm for every cm. During lengthening you do not have a proper posture, hence its hard to measure the real height.

[RB]

Well, there is indeed some minor loss when you lengthen femurs and is very much individualistic. There is a thread talking in depth regarding this: http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=66448.0

Though, IMO, I highly doubt that there would loss of 1 mm for every cm. During lengthening you do not have a proper posture, hence its hard to measure the real height.

Very interesting. There is no doubt some minor loss but I agree that when posture is corrected, the loss would be minimal and close to the distracted amount. I've decided to stay at 7. I'm only on day 2 of consolidation and I already feel so much better.

[RB]

Also, if anyone knows of some effective strength exercises to help resolve duck ass, that would be much appreciated. I know I need to target the glutes especially but they are a very difficult muscle group to work on when you're a cripple haha.

[V21]

I think it's also important to measure after recovering posture. Another user I talk to said he did 7.8 and was only like 6.8 after lenghtening. A few weeks later he is like 7.4. It's impossible to have your full height when you finish lenghtening. In my case, being a healthy young guy, last year I lost like 0.7 cm because of months without much activity during lockdown, and I got it back one month after.

[SirStretchAlot]

Also, if anyone knows of some effective strength exercises to help resolve duck ass, that would be much appreciated. I know I need to target the glutes especially but they are a very difficult muscle group to work on when you're a cripple haha.

Engage your glutes at all times when walking and push your hips forward during every step. Duckass is a normal compensation due to weak glutes and your intent to narrow wide legs. You'll find that once you push your hip forward, glutes are much easier to engage and your wide legs will return, though this is necessary.

[RB]

105 days post-surgery - Consolidation +14 days

So now that I am 2 weeks into consolidation, I thought I would provide a quick update.

Firstly the good news, I have made enormous progress in several areas. Since finishing lengthening, all the pain and general discomfort has slowly faded away. I no longer have any pain at all. The only thing that remains is slight discomfort in the legs if I sit for too long or walk long distances or when I am driving long distances but this too is improving. I have started a strength program with my PT which includes body squats, hydrotherapy and low-weight exercises that target the glutes, quads, hamstrings and hips. My legs feel 100 times stronger than they did during distraction. My duck ass is also slowly improving and with more glute strengthening, I should be able to eliminate it over the next month.

For the bad, my wide legs still persist and this is the one thing preventing me from walking normally. I went to see an orthopaedic surgeon to inquire about an ITB release and he said I have abduction to the extent that it can't be solved by PT and he can release it in 5 weeks time and it is covered by my insurance and essentially would resolve my wide legs instantly. I am strongly considering going this route because I have made great progress in all other areas yet the ITB is not something I can really work on since it cannot stretch. Betz is a great surgeon and performed the surgery perfectly, however the lack of an ITB release can cause issues and it should really be done in the original surgery. The good news is that I am covered by insurance and 5 weeks also gives me time to completely strengthen everything else before releasing the ITB.

All in all I am happy with my progress and happy that I did the surgery but slightly annoyed about the ITB but at least there is a solution that should get me walking normally again within the next 5-8 weeks.

Also, here are my x-rays right after lengthening finished (2 weeks ago). Callus is developing nicely, more so on the left as the right is a bit behind but Dr. Betz said the regenerate is looking very solid and healthy.

https://imgur.com/xevnaOM
https://imgur.com/lXuWvHu

[PerfectBody]

That looks like genuinely great bone healing. I'm envious - whatever the hell you're doing, keep it up man!

[SirStretchAlot]

105 days post-surgery - Consolidation +14 days

So now that I am 2 weeks into consolidation, I thought I would provide a quick update.

Firstly the good news, I have made enormous progress in several areas. Since finishing lengthening, all the pain and general discomfort has slowly faded away. I no longer have any pain at all. The only thing that remains is slight discomfort in the legs if I sit for too long or walk long distances or when I am driving long distances but this too is improving. I have started a strength program with my PT which includes body squats, hydrotherapy and low-weight exercises that target the glutes, quads, hamstrings and hips. My legs feel 100 times stronger than they did during distraction. My duck ass is also slowly improving and with more glute strengthening, I should be able to eliminate it over the next month.

For the bad, my wide legs still persist and this is the one thing preventing me from walking normally. I went to see an orthopaedic surgeon to inquire about an ITB release and he said I have abduction to the extent that it can't be solved by PT and he can release it in 5 weeks time and it is covered by my insurance and essentially would resolve my wide legs instantly. I am strongly considering going this route because I have made great progress in all other areas yet the ITB is not something I can really work on since it cannot stretch. Betz is a great surgeon and performed the surgery perfectly, however the lack of an ITB release can cause issues and it should really be done in the original surgery. The good news is that I am covered by insurance and 5 weeks also gives me time to completely strengthen everything else before releasing the ITB.

All in all I am happy with my progress and happy that I did the surgery but slightly annoyed about the ITB but at least there is a solution that should get me walking normally again within the next 5-8 weeks.

Also, here are my x-rays right after lengthening finished (2 weeks ago). Callus is developing nicely, more so on the left as the right is a bit behind but Dr. Betz said the regenerate is looking very solid and healthy.

https://imgur.com/xevnaOM
https://imgur.com/lXuWvHu

Fantastic news. This is exactly what I'm going through. PT simply doesn't work nearly as magically on ITB as Betz says. It should've been a deal-breaker. What did he say when you consulted him on ITB release?

Thanks

[DonBones]

105 days post-surgery - Consolidation +14 days

So now that I am 2 weeks into consolidation, I thought I would provide a quick update.

Firstly the good news, I have made enormous progress in several areas. Since finishing lengthening, all the pain and general discomfort has slowly faded away. I no longer have any pain at all. The only thing that remains is slight discomfort in the legs if I sit for too long or walk long distances or when I am driving long distances but this too is improving. I have started a strength program with my PT which includes body squats, hydrotherapy and low-weight exercises that target the glutes, quads, hamstrings and hips. My legs feel 100 times stronger than they did during distraction. My duck ass is also slowly improving and with more glute strengthening, I should be able to eliminate it over the next month.

For the bad, my wide legs still persist and this is the one thing preventing me from walking normally. I went to see an orthopaedic surgeon to inquire about an ITB release and he said I have abduction to the extent that it can't be solved by PT and he can release it in 5 weeks time and it is covered by my insurance and essentially would resolve my wide legs instantly. I am strongly considering going this route because I have made great progress in all other areas yet the ITB is not something I can really work on since it cannot stretch. Betz is a great surgeon and performed the surgery perfectly, however the lack of an ITB release can cause issues and it should really be done in the original surgery. The good news is that I am covered by insurance and 5 weeks also gives me time to completely strengthen everything else before releasing the ITB.

All in all I am happy with my progress and happy that I did the surgery but slightly annoyed about the ITB but at least there is a solution that should get me walking normally again within the next 5-8 weeks.

Also, here are my x-rays right after lengthening finished (2 weeks ago). Callus is developing nicely, more so on the left as the right is a bit behind but Dr. Betz said the regenerate is looking very solid and healthy.

https://imgur.com/xevnaOM
https://imgur.com/lXuWvHu

Great news and good to hear you're stronger! Hope the ITB release will be smooth if it comes to it