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[lessthanavg8300]

Pretty much what the title says.  I'm at that "shortish height" of a tad bit over 5 foot 7.  I dont want to be tall, just want to get to about average and have it as unnoticed by family and friends as possible.

1) Would the height itself be obvious and undeniable or could I gaslight and get away with it?  My dad is 5 foot 9, he would likely notice more than anyone else.

2) I cant create an excuse for not seeing anyone more than 4 months, 5 max.  Is this enough time to walk normally?  I know the timelines can shift if you hit complications.  I would be doing a full weight bearing nail.


I would especially like to hear from anyone who lengthened about 2 inches and how noticeable it was for those around you.

Best

[ClydeDrexler]

1.) the height increase would not be obvious, if  you gaslight you could get away with it. It's just like wearing air maxes that will add 1.6 inches. I've never done it though just my take.

My question to you is, would 1.5 to 2 inches even be worth it? I feel like at that point your not gonna see much benefits of the procedure in the 1st place.

If your doing less inches to keep it hidden then it probably makes more sense to tell the people around you and just ask them to keep it secret.

[motoboarder]

2. Nope. If you're looking forward to walking normally in front of your people, plan at least 10mo for lengthening + recovery. Also I don't recommend full weight bearing nail. Because what's the point of walking with a weird posture in front of everybody? You'd rather focus on your lengthening and only it. The weight bearing nail is stronger which means your bone will be fundamentally weaker during consolidation and will take longer time to actually harden.

For Christ sake LL is a huge risky project in life. Why does everyone want to rush through and want to be done with it? You gotta invest!

[boklecrt]

1.) the height increase would not be obvious, if  you gaslight you could get away with it. It's just like wearing air maxes that will add 1.6 inches. I've never done it though just my take.

My question to you is, would 1.5 to 2 inches even be worth it? I feel like at that point your not gonna see much benefits of the procedure in the 1st place.

If your doing less inches to keep it hidden then it probably makes more sense to tell the people around you and just ask them to keep it secret.

2. Nope. If you're looking forward to walking normally in front of your people, plan at least 10mo for lengthening + recovery. Also I don't recommend full weight bearing nail. Because what's the point of walking with a weird posture in front of everybody? You'd rather focus on your lengthening and only it. The weight bearing nail is stronger which means your bone will be fundamentally weaker during consolidation and will take longer time to actually harden.

For Christ sake LL is a huge risky project in life. Why does everyone want to rush through and want to be done with it? You gotta invest!

do you guys even read your posts before you post?

OP ignore professor #1 and professor #2 above

1. 2 inch is a massive difference to yourself and to others in your height range really as its directly on the bone, and not comparable to "airmaxes". if you dont prime everyone's perception of you by first wearing lifts for 6-12 months at all times around them, if you suddenly disappear for 5 months and come back shot up 2 inches your dad will most definitely notice as other people in your circle
2. The advantages of a weight bearing nail cannot be overstated

what are you doing? betzbone femur or tibia? or tibia LON? femur LON maybe?

recovery is different with all of these options but for lon tibia and 2 inches i am normal at 5 and a half months after the first surgery to install the frames. i still descend stairs a little to the side as my dorsiflexion(toes going upwards) needs more time to stretch but saying you have muscle soreness from training legs is fine, or an ankle sprain, noone gives a shyte really

also no running and jumping until full consolidation

[motoboarder]

Since COVID and social distancing, the number of behind the screen keyboard heroes seemed to spike. @boklecrt that community welcomed you.

So, professor #3, what exact formal wordings did I use in my answer that earned me the "prof" title? I read your 2x length post and still don't get what you're disagreeing with.

As a non-prof of limb lengthening, my general advices is to warn people to allocate ample time to undergo this difficult surgery and recovery. Cases by cases are different. No one can give out a rocket science standard of how long one person should expect to spend for the whole process. When these scenarios happen, it's better to overestimate than to be overconfident. When doctors respond to patient, they answer with statistics. The minimum is well used by the ignorant minorities. The average is good to represent the population. But the higher percentile is best given so that patients wouldn't be too disappointed if certain realities play out. So when I gave out the estimate of 10mo so quickly, there's a reason to it.

Lastly, you know what I found amusing about you? You tell OP to ignore this or ignore that. Everyone is capable of and responsible for the choices they make and the information they ingest. When OP posted his/her question, they know what to expect. But they make the ultimate decision.

Not implying anything, but I've seen in real life the types of people who speak very loud and often supervise others' decisions on their behalf. Then I also know what sorts of mediocre those people do for a living

Hope you find my sarcasm funny. Again, just because I found you so very amusing.

[boklecrt]

Since COVID and social distancing, the number of behind the screen keyboard heroes seemed to spike. @boklecrt that community welcomed you.

So, professor #3, what exact formal wordings did I use in my answer that earned me the "prof" title? I read your 2x length post and still don't get what you're disagreeing with.

As a non-prof of limb lengthening, my general advices is to warn people to allocate ample time to undergo this difficult surgery and recovery. Cases by cases are different. No one can give out a rocket science standard of how long one person should expect to spend for the whole process. When these scenarios happen, it's better to overestimate than to be overconfident. When doctors respond to patient, they answer with statistics. The minimum is well used by the ignorant minorities. The average is good to represent the population. But the higher percentile is best given so that patients wouldn't be too disappointed if certain realities play out. So when I gave out the estimate of 10mo so quickly, there's a reason to it.

Lastly, you know what I found amusing about you? You tell OP to ignore this or ignore that. Everyone is capable of and responsible for the choices they make and the information they ingest. When OP posted his/her question, they know what to expect. But they make the ultimate decision.

Not implying anything, but I've seen in real life the types of people who speak very loud and often supervise others' decisions on their behalf. Then I also know what sorts of mediocre those people do for a living

Hope you find my sarcasm funny. Again, just because I found you so very amusing.

hey motoboarder, alright you are not Professor #2, but clyde dexter is still Professor #1
geez
lighten up a bit, this is the internet, its all fun and games until leo nazul comes and breaks someone's legs

anyway, sorry if you took it that personally, but OP asked if he did sub 2 inch lengthening, and he said specifically with a weight bearing nail, its not 10 months + recovery and the fact that its weight bearing would allow a much faster recovery

this is what I tried to convey in my own post. furthermore if he did 2 inches just on femur, his recovery would be possibly faster than even on tibia due to the single bone + increased nutrients from the vessels surrounding muscles and tendons

you would be correct if he was doing a much higher amount than 2 inches

[motoboarder]

No I didn't take anything personally. There's life outside of internet anonymity. On the web when no one sees anyone's face, It's just fun to respond to mocking or sarcasm by another sarcasm don't you think?

About nail type, I saw that OP used the word "nail" so I assumed internal nails. "In general", I don't recommend weight bearing nail because while being at Paley's, I informally collected knowledge that on average, stryde patients took longer to have their nails removed post surgery. Another patient (whom I met in-person) told me of a LL friend who broke both her bone & the stryde nail at 1+ year after consolidation, while descending stairs and fell. These 2 facts supplement each other. When the nail is strong, it sustains more weight bearing. As a result, the new bones don't "compress" as much, hence taking longer to harden.

Walking unaided with a stryde nail looks - honestly - quite funny at 6+ mo post surgery. You can see that from former LLer's diaries. So OP could be noticed by either suddenly looking taller or by walking with a weird posture - which is what s/he wants to avoid. Thus I answer 10mo without thinking too much.

In all, my point is, LL is an experience. Take the time to rest, live slower, give your precious body abundant time to heal. My point is not about arguing 10mo vs 6mo or weight bearing vs non-bearing nails.

[boklecrt]

No I didn't take anything personally. There's life outside of internet anonymity. On the web when no one sees anyone's face, It's just fun to respond to mocking or sarcasm by another sarcasm don't you think?

About nail type, I saw that OP used the word "nail" so I assumed internal nails. "In general", I don't recommend weight bearing nail because while being at Paley's, I informally collected knowledge that on average, stryde patients took longer to have their nails removed post surgery. Another patient (whom I met in-person) told me of a LL friend who broke both her bone & the stryde nail at 1+ year after consolidation, while descending stairs and fell. These 2 facts supplement each other. When the nail is strong, it sustains more weight bearing. As a result, the new bones don't "compress" as much, hence taking longer to harden.

Walking unaided with a stryde nail looks - honestly - quite funny at 6+ mo post surgery. You can see that from former LLer's diaries. So OP could be noticed by either suddenly looking taller or by walking with a weird posture - which is what s/he wants to avoid. Thus I answer 10mo without thinking too much.

In all, my point is, LL is an experience. Take the time to rest, live slower, give your precious body abundant time to heal. My point is not about arguing 10mo vs 6mo or weight bearing vs non-bearing nails.

Id love to discuss this a bit more

as far as i understand from the scientific literature an intramedullary nail is a load sharing device, and not a load bearing such as plate fixation, that means that any nail would share the load with the bone

i just dont understand how would precice would be superior to stryde(besides the osteolysis of course), when stryde allowed patients to throw the crutches a month earlier than precice

id argue that once normal every day locomotion is restored it would possibly take longer for a stryde nail to calcify the regenerate(full return to normal bone consistency would take on average 9-12 months), depending on diet and exercise, however the difference is miniscule and not clinically significant when it comes to violent fractures such as stairs falling


regarding the girl who broke her leg, sounds like a total horror story, but in reality nail or no nail falling on stairs is almost certain to bring a variety of fractures-broken wrist, broken ankle, broken leg. i have fallen down stairs when i was 9 years old and broke my right ankle.
id love to see that xray after she fell though, that would be interesting to see all the damage from a medical standpoint

regarding walking normally, wouldnt you agree that this is solely to do with soft tissue recovery? perhaps you were seeing the stryde patients doing the zombie walk because they threw the crutches earlier and now can brute force through the tightness with every day movement

the horror freak walk goes away rather quickly

thoughts?

[lessthanavg8300]

I indeed would be doing femurs with the BetzBone.  And from my research it looks like a 4-5 month recovery to walk normally if things go smoothly.

I honestly think 2 inches is a stretch for nobody to notice.  Its the maximum possible height increase you could gaslight have have people believe it.  1.5 inches would be easier.  However doing this surgery is not easy and only gaining 1.5 inches for all this seems dumb.  So id prob do 2 inches and hope for the best.

Appreciate the input from you and everyone else.

[171in2022]

There are some things you can do to make it less obvious

Like boklecrt said, wear lifts for 6-12 months beforehand.

You could also change up your hairstyle, style it upwards for now then something a little lower later

Wear boots with a thin sole after your surgery (wrestling style shoes are a good option), if someone comments on your height just say you're wearing inserts/lifts

If you live with family this will be a bit harder but if you wake up before them a few hours then your spine will be more compressed, so maybe another cm there

Wear baggy pants and slightly bend your knees - or one leg behind and lean back a bit

There's a ton of things really. It's funny, I was really concerned about hiding this as well but after the surgery and the process I was so over everything I didn't really give a fk anymore. Lifts before surgery are the most important but yeah with people around your height, might be a challenge, especially if they're height conscious. 

[lessthanavg8300]

Ive sort of accepted my immediate parents will call me out.  For friends I have a pretty damn legit excuse because I had another unrelated medical procedure done.

I dont wear shoes around my family or friends and I always refused to wear lifts because I think they do more damage than good (and Im not very short) so these tricks wont work for me.  But its a good thought.

General word on lifts for short guys: stop wearing them.  You're not doing yourself any favors and are going to end in isolation over the scary though of everyone finding out about your lie.  How can you seriously have a social life with lifts?  You meet a girl, she comes over - then what?  Your friends come over and you're always wearing shoes - not weird at all.  Everyone knows what you're doing.  Just own it or fix it.  And trust me I get the uncomfortable feeling (I'm on this board arnt I) I'm not trying to downplay it.

[informationispower]

Ive sort of accepted my immediate parents will call me out.  For friends I have a pretty damn legit excuse because I had another unrelated medical procedure done.

I dont wear shoes around my family or friends and I always refused to wear lifts because I think they do more damage than good (and Im not very short) so these tricks wont work for me.  But its a good thought.

General word on lifts for short guys: stop wearing them.  You're not doing yourself any favors and are going to end in isolation over the scary though of everyone finding out about your lie.  How can you seriously have a social life with lifts?  You meet a girl, she comes over - then what?  Your friends come over and you're always wearing shoes - not weird at all.  Everyone knows what you're doing.  Just own it or fix it.  And trust me I get the uncomfortable feeling (I'm on this board arnt I) I'm not trying to downplay it.

Been wearing a 1inch insole for years. Didnt have any negative effect on my life. Didnt have problem with women. Chill

[lessthanavg8300]

1 inch is reasonable, that like wearing air-maxes.  I'm talking about stuffing in 2 inch+ lifts and you take them off and its like you stepped off a ladder.

[informationispower]

1 inch is reasonable, that like wearing air-maxes.  I'm talking about stuffing in 2 inch+ lifts and you take them off and its like you stepped off a ladder.

1 inch insoles inside a sneaker or a boot boosts you up by 5cm. Again, it is fine