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[mc623]

Hi everyone,

Long time lurker on this forum, but I figured I would document my experience to stave off some of the isolation of limb lengthening in a foreign country.
Currently it's post-op day 1 for me, and I've got 3 weeks to spend in Germany.

Personal details:
Age: 30
Height 162cm
Weight: 53 kg
Goal: at least 8 cm
Ethnicity: East Asian.

Why limb lengthening:  For the longest time, I believed that having a positive outlook on how I feel about my height would be enough to treat my height dysphoria, however, I never could shake the feeling of discomfort every time I looked in a full body mirror. It eventually got so bad, that I would actively avoid them. I found that I would never participate in group photos, because I would always see myself as the smallest person there.. by a long margin, and then feel disgusted by myself. Sure, I could improve the way I dress, the way I cut my hair, but the first thing that anybody notices is my height, which really isn't surprising as it would be about the bottom 1st percentile in the country I live in. Additionally, I often find that in the work that I do, people subconsciously (or overtly) find it hard to believe that I am an experienced professional, given my outward appearance, despite the air of professionalism I attempt to maintain.

Preparation:

Reached out to Dr. Betz in May 2022, with a zoom consultation. Went through the process, the OR, and post-op regimen.  Very thorough, answered any concerns that I may have had. He suggested 10 cm would be very doable for me given my x-rays, however, I think we will see once we get closer to there.  Was told that Dr. Becker would be doing my surgery in Freiburg, and was put in touch with his team.

Arrived in Germany 5 days prior to surgery. Frankfurt airport is pretty massive, but it's fairly easy to navigate as an english speaker. I take the taxi to the train station and head to freiburg via train, which takes about 2 hours. Freiburg is a smaller city, but still quite lively as the christmas markets are still open. I head to my hotel to avoid any exposure to covid for the next 5 days as much as possible. Food is pretty easy to find in the city, but their delivery service (Lieferando) is much more limited than north american options such as skipthedishes, doordash or uber eats.

I meet Dr. Becker at his clinic. His team takes photos of me for purposes of simulation. I have a chance to speak to Dr. Becker regarding the OR, recovery timeframe and realistic expectations. He says we can try for 10 cm. He takes great care in answering any of my concerns in great detail.

I get a COVID PCR and rapid test 2 and 1 day prior to the operation, which was a bit of a hassle, because the PCR testing center I had booked had suddenly decided to close 1 hour prior to my test, so I had to go around the city trying to find a place that would do a PCR.

On the day of the OR I check into the surgical clinic with my luggage. I meet the anesthesiologist in person for the first time, but had a phone consutlation with them 2 weeks prior.  The surgery is expected to be 2.5 hours in duration, with general total intravenous anesthesia and an LMA for an airway. I eventually get taken into an OR, an IV is started, and the last thing I remember is receiving a facemask for pre-oxygenation.

Post-op Day 0

I wake up in the recovery room, having no recollection of what happened during the surgery, which is a good thing. I feel that I'm able to move my legs, but quickly fall back to sleep. I next wake up in my hospital room, which is spacious and private. Dr. Becker is there to help me ambulate. Using his support I ambulate extremely slowly for about 20 meters, then return to my bed. My legs are heavy and stiff. Lifting them even 20 cm off the bed is a challenge due to the stiffness in them. Dr. Becker instructs me to stretch hourly, and informs me that my initial gap in my femurs is 6mm bilaterally.

The rest of the day I'm mostly in bed, in and out of sleep. I receive IV fluids due to hypotension after the surgery, and drink about 3-4 L of fluids. Dinner is provided, which consists of bread, ham, and pickled vegetables. Not bad.  Eventually my pain starts to rise as the local anesthetic in the surgical sites start to wear off. I'm given a tab of oxycodone and get to sleep without issue.

Post op Day 1

I wake up, and feel intense stiffness of my legs, even moreso than yesterday. This improves with some very painful stretching every hour. Eventually Dr. Becker returns, and we try walking on crutches. It's quite difficult, as my ability to swing my legs  forward as you would normally is severely limited. Nevertheless, I give it my best shot and make it about 30 meters. I'm now cleared to go to the washroom unsupervised. I continue to stretch, and have 1 PT session later in the day to work on ambulating with crutches.

I'm currently on on ibuprofen, low dose opioids, vitamins , pantoprazole, and a subcutaneous anticoagulant.

[Vogel]

Hey man, wish you best of luck on this journey.


Could you please ask doctor Becker about his thought on lengthening the femur along the anatomical axis? Does he worry about malalignment and how does he plan for avoiding it.


I asked several doctors about this question and I’m just curious to get his take on this question.

[Kanye Western]

Best of luck brother!

[Limbfan2020]

How many LL surgeries has Dr. Becker done so far by himself?

Do you also take the drug Xarelto as an anticoagulant?

What's the name of clinic where you had the surgery?

All the best!

[mc623]

Hi All, delayed update - but this has been a pretty major change in my life.

POD2-4

Every day I wake up with pretty severe stiffness in the legs, but this goes away quickly. I train walking on crutches about 4-5 times per day, and have gotten to the point that I am able to use the 3 point technique, and go up and down stairs with relative ease. Dr. Becker is happy with my progress. I would say that I still move slower than the average walking gait of a 30 year old male, by about 20-30%.  Prior to the surgery I would run about  7km per day without a problem, but I find that moving around on crutches to be quite exhausting, even at 100m. Hopefully this improves soon. Physiotherapy occurs daily, and recently I have been instructed to use the exercise bike for about 30 minutes up to three times a day in addition to my stretches. I have not required any opioids for pain since POD 2, but maybe this will change with clicking.


As far as independence goes - I found that as of POD 3, I'm able to complete toileting and hygiene by myself without issues. Picking up and carry objects is a challenge if they do not have handles. While I am able to use one crutch, I'm not quite confident in my stability yet to do that while carry items, but we will see how things go in the rehab center.

Care here has overall been excellent. The hospital room is private, and spacious. Nurses are attentive and demonstrate fantastic bedside manner. Food isn't bad, but after a few days of eating german hospital food, you may crave some nasty american fast food every once in a while.  Dr. Becker sees me daily, and takes his time rounding on you, and asking any questions you may have in detail and in honesty. Specifically, he was quite straightforward that I can expect things to get quite a bit worse in terms of pain and stiffness after 2-3 weeks when my muscles have reached maximum tension, and that I can expect things to improve afterwards. Overall I am quite happy with his care.


As far as questions go:

How many LL surgeries has Dr. Becker done so far by himself? - I don't know the answer to this one, sorry!

Do you also take the drug Xarelto as an anticoagulant? - Yes, I transitioned from low-molecular weight heparin to oral xarelto as of POD3 after Dr. Becker was happy with the post-operative hematomas and my ambulation.

What's the name of clinic where you had the surgery? - Praxisklinik 2000

Could you please ask doctor Becker about his thought on lengthening the femur along the anatomical axis? Does he worry about malalignment and how does he plan for avoiding it. - I can ask this question, however, I'm a little curious as what you mean by this. My understanding is that the nail is placed in plane with the femur.. as any other angle would result in quite a bit of pain when distracting and cause malunion.


Thank you all for your time in reading this!

[boots2asses]

Looking forward for your updates

[mc623]

Hi everyone,

Since the last update, I've been doing quite well, and have been transferred from the hospital to the rehab clinic.

POD 5-10

I was discharged from the hospital on POD 5, after some baseline bloodwork and x rays of my bilateral legs. Getting out of the hospital has been great for my mental health, as there's not too much for you to do in your hospital room. Also the hospital food was starting to get kind of boring. The rehab center is actually quite nice, and is attached to the hotel. My room is an upgraded hotel one, with accommodations for disabilities, which has been nice. The room is quite spacious, and there  is pretty good Wi-Fi access here. The rehab center/hotel is equipped with a fairly robust gym and physiotherapists. You have the option of eating included meals at the clinic, but I would highly recommend paying the extra 71 EUR per day to switch to the hotel meal plan. There's nothing quite as demotivating as finishing 4 hours of stretching, then physio, then cardio to eat cold bread and canned fish for dinner. The food at the hotel side, however, is fantastic.

My mobility has continued to improve since the surgery on two crutches. I am able to move short distances on one or zero crutches, however, my gait is quite poor, and I find it to be highly energy consuming, so this is something that I will have to train more later. I find that my mobility can vary highly depending the amount of sleep I've been getting (more on this later), as well as levels of pain/stiffness, so there are always dips and peaks with this, but overall, I am happy with my progress at POD 10.

As far as pain goes, I found that the surgical pain actually decreased significantly by POD 5. Due to my rapid progress, Dr. Becker suggested that I start clicking earlier, on POD 5, and so I did. As of POD 8 I have been doing 20 clicks a day, and I am now experiencing fairly deep, boring, persistent bony pain, about 4-10 in character. This can be managed with the tilidine that is prescribed, however, this becomes a larger issue at night, where higher potency opioids have been required.

Sleep has been quite poor since I have started clicking. It's often hard to fall asleep if you are in pain, and I find that I am woken up by pain around 0300. Further complicating things are the sweats that I have been experiencing with tilidine, which make sleeping quite uncomfortable. I had tried sleeping on my side one night, and this was a huge mistake due to the resultant pain I experienced upon wakening.

Clicking was initially quite difficult and incredibly painful for me on the first few days, however, now both the motion and the pain have been quite manageable. It takes me about 20 minutes to complete my clicking, however, the first click on each leg can take up to 3 minutes of loosening myself up. I find that this is easier after showering and stretching rather than attempting to do this cold.

Stretching is prescribed to you 4 hours a day. It is highly recommended that you do at least this amount, otherwise you may develop complications such as unremitting stiffness, wide legs, or anterior-pelvic tilt. I won't lie, it does get pretty drab at times, however, I can often watch TV while stretching which is nice. I will stress that the stretching should be at an intensity where you won't be able to focus completely on the screen, but having something on does help pass the time.

The care by Dr. Becker and his team remains excellent. Dr. Becker has continued to round on me every day except Sunday, which was Christmas. He takes my concerns regarding sleep and pain quite seriously, and will work out solutions with me. He is also involved in teaching you proper stretching maneouvers. He also continues to perform wound checks appropriately. Dr. Becker is assisted by Tonja, who is able to help you with everything else associated with your stay, such as getting items that you need or lending you her theragun. She's quite uplifting. I was also visited by their personal trainer David today, who pushes me to perform the stretches more accurately and intensely.

Overall, things are looking good, but there's still a very long road ahead. I'm actually most concerned about dealing with the airports on the way back!

Questions for other LLers:

1) How do you deal with getting your luggage checked in, getting through security, and physically getting on and off the plane?
2) I'm only prescribed 400 IU of Vitamin D daily, which is quite low. Dr. Becker states that he is concerned with pre-consolidation, so he would prefer a smaller amount at least for the first 4 cm, but 400 IU is even less than the daily recommended amount in my country, and also much lower than what other surgeons prescribe. I trust Dr. Becker, but I was hoping to get everyone else's thoughts on this.

[lessthanavg8300]

When I get this surgery I'm bringing on a carry-on size suitcase with 4 wheels.  A 2 wheel suitcase is going to be a pain in the ass to deal with.  If you want to go super light you could just do a backpack but that might not be sufficient.

[2024]

Congrats mate.
Any updates?

[Bagga]

Hi everyone,

Since the last update, I've been doing quite well, and have been transferred from the hospital to the rehab clinic.

POD 5-10

I was discharged from the hospital on POD 5, after some baseline bloodwork and x rays of my bilateral legs. Getting out of the hospital has been great for my mental health, as there's not too much for you to do in your hospital room. Also the hospital food was starting to get kind of boring. The rehab center is actually quite nice, and is attached to the hotel. My room is an upgraded hotel one, with accommodations for disabilities, which has been nice. The room is quite spacious, and there  is pretty good Wi-Fi access here. The rehab center/hotel is equipped with a fairly robust gym and physiotherapists. You have the option of eating included meals at the clinic, but I would highly recommend paying the extra 71 EUR per day to switch to the hotel meal plan. There's nothing quite as demotivating as finishing 4 hours of stretching, then physio, then cardio to eat cold bread and canned fish for dinner. The food at the hotel side, however, is fantastic.

My mobility has continued to improve since the surgery on two crutches. I am able to move short distances on one or zero crutches, however, my gait is quite poor, and I find it to be highly energy consuming, so this is something that I will have to train more later. I find that my mobility can vary highly depending the amount of sleep I've been getting (more on this later), as well as levels of pain/stiffness, so there are always dips and peaks with this, but overall, I am happy with my progress at POD 10.

As far as pain goes, I found that the surgical pain actually decreased significantly by POD 5. Due to my rapid progress, Dr. Becker suggested that I start clicking earlier, on POD 5, and so I did. As of POD 8 I have been doing 20 clicks a day, and I am now experiencing fairly deep, boring, persistent bony pain, about 4-10 in character. This can be managed with the tilidine that is prescribed, however, this becomes a larger issue at night, where higher potency opioids have been required.

Sleep has been quite poor since I have started clicking. It's often hard to fall asleep if you are in pain, and I find that I am woken up by pain around 0300. Further complicating things are the sweats that I have been experiencing with tilidine, which make sleeping quite uncomfortable. I had tried sleeping on my side one night, and this was a huge mistake due to the resultant pain I experienced upon wakening.

Clicking was initially quite difficult and incredibly painful for me on the first few days, however, now both the motion and the pain have been quite manageable. It takes me about 20 minutes to complete my clicking, however, the first click on each leg can take up to 3 minutes of loosening myself up. I find that this is easier after showering and stretching rather than attempting to do this cold.

Stretching is prescribed to you 4 hours a day. It is highly recommended that you do at least this amount, otherwise you may develop complications such as unremitting stiffness, wide legs, or anterior-pelvic tilt. I won't lie, it does get pretty drab at times, however, I can often watch TV while stretching which is nice. I will stress that the stretching should be at an intensity where you won't be able to focus completely on the screen, but having something on does help pass the time.

The care by Dr. Becker and his team remains excellent. Dr. Becker has continued to round on me every day except Sunday, which was Christmas. He takes my concerns regarding sleep and pain quite seriously, and will work out solutions with me. He is also involved in teaching you proper stretching maneouvers. He also continues to perform wound checks appropriately. Dr. Becker is assisted by Tonja, who is able to help you with everything else associated with your stay, such as getting items that you need or lending you her theragun. She's quite uplifting. I was also visited by their personal trainer David today, who pushes me to perform the stretches more accurately and intensely.

Overall, things are looking good, but there's still a very long road ahead. I'm actually most concerned about dealing with the airports on the way back!

Questions for other LLers:

1) How do you deal with getting your luggage checked in, getting through security, and physically getting on and off the plane?
2) I'm only prescribed 400 IU of Vitamin D daily, which is quite low. Dr. Becker states that he is concerned with pre-consolidation, so he would prefer a smaller amount at least for the first 4 cm, but 400 IU is even less than the daily recommended amount in my country, and also much lower than what other surgeons prescribe. I trust Dr. Becker, but I was hoping to get everyone else's thoughts on this.

How much per day did you pay for the room and accommodation at Rehab?

[short but sweet]

were you given a choice between spinal and general anesthesia ?

[Betzbone]

How are you doing 30 days post op?

[Berry]

Any updates?

[mc623]

Post Op Week 6 Update

Hi everyone,

Haven't posted in a while, as I've gotten home 3 weeks ago and just wanted to focus on having some semblance of a normal life.

Overall, things have been going relatively well, as much as they can be for a major orthopedic procedure.  Currently I'm at 3.8 cm.

A big challenge for me was getting around the airport. Frankfurt was fairly helpful in getting me around, however, I had a very rough time in Toronto. That with a total of 13 hours of flying set me back a couple of days in terms of energy and pain.

Since then, I have noticed that my energy is very slowly returning. Sleep remains very difficult, as I will wake multiple times in the night due to stiffness, to the point where anything after 6 hours is impossible. I find that while napping is possible, after the nap, I have to deal with the consequence of extreme stiffness.

I try to stretch about 5 hours a day, and this is quite taxing, especially towards the end of the day. It's pretty tough physically and mentally to do 3 sets of 2 minute stretches in 6 muscle groups in 2 legs as you're exhausted at night. However, every time I wake up, I can feel my hip flexors try to pull my torso forward, and my legs attempt to widen in stance, so I'm pretty rigorous to try to prevent these complications.

My mobility is good on crutches, and I'm able to essentially be off crutches at home, but I find using them allows me to conserve energy.

My medications are pretty much the same as when I left, with the exception of increasing the muscle relaxant at night to improve sleep, and increasing my pregabalin as I'm starting to get minor nerve pain.

Aside from that, I'm able to do very light work now without issue, but am pretty exhausted afterwards. Definitely not able to do full time work at all.

To answer questions:

1) The anesthesiologists suggested general anesthesia for the procedure, which I happily accepted. I'm sure if I pushed, I could have had spinal, however, I would not want to have that experience myself.
2) The room and rehab past the 9 days paid by Dr. Becker was 211 Eur/d. I stayed at the hotel, which was more expensive, but the hotel is a much nicer experience than the rehab side (they're connected).

[mc623]

Made it to 4 cm today - clicking has become quite easy. I was able to finish 15 clicks for both legs in 5 minutes today, however, Dr. Becker has instructed me to slow down to 14 clicks per day from now on. I'm okay with this, as I'm concerned about  nerve pain.

For those curious about what clicking is like, please see my video below, the angle isn't perfect, but it's the best that I could do without showing my face (much). A couple weeks ago this would have taken an hour or more, but after reaching about 3 cm it's been pretty easy. You'll notice that I complete the right leg extremely quickly, but the left takes a while. With the left leg, I have to maximally externally rotate my leg with my right hand or both hands, then lean my body to the left to complete the inward click. The outward click is thankfully easy and can be managed with my left hand only.  I also need to take short breaks with the left due to pain,  whereas I can just do the right rapidly.

[lessthanavg8300]

Made it to 4 cm today - clicking has become quite easy. I was able to finish 15 clicks for both legs in 5 minutes today, however, Dr. Becker has instructed me to slow down to 14 clicks per day from now on. I'm okay with this, as I'm concerned about  nerve pain.

For those curious about what clicking is like, please see my video below, the angle isn't perfect, but it's the best that I could do without showing my face (much). A couple weeks ago this would have taken an hour or more, but after reaching about 3 cm it's been pretty easy. You'll notice that I complete the right leg extremely quickly, but the left takes a while. With the left leg, I have to maximally externally rotate my leg with my right hand or both hands, then lean my body to the left to complete the inward click. The outward click is thankfully easy and can be managed with my left hand only.  I also need to take short breaks with the left due to pain,  whereas I can just do the right rapidly.

Congrats on 4CM.  Its a huge relief to get this far because no matter what from now on you will get something substantial out of this surgery.  You are taller in a non-trivial way.

[Captain Bone]

Good luck on your journey

[mc623]

Post op day 58 - 5cm

Hi everyone, thanks for reading my journal up  until now.

Today I've finally reached 5 cm. Dr. Becker has instructed me to slow down to 13 clicks per day (about 0.66mm/d) due to some neuropathic pain.

Overall, going from 4-5 cm was actually pretty easy compared to lengthening prior to this. Day to day stiffness isn't so bad, but that's probably because I'm still stretching 5 hours a day. Of note - sometimes holding stretches for 2 minutes each can be both incredibly boring and painful, it's just something that you have to get used to.

I'm not really feeling too much tightness from my IT bands, but my gait will spread a tiny bit if I'm not thinking about it when I walk. I think my hip flexors are the biggest issue right now, as I'm starting to get some anterior pelvic tilt, but nothing drastic. We'll see how well I hold up as I continue to lengthen.

Pain is pretty minimal at this point, unless I stay in the same position for more than 2 hours or so, but that can usually be resolved with some quick stretches.

The biggest issue for me is still sleep - despite sleeping aids I find that I will always wake up around 3-4 AM, and be unable to go back to sleep as I constantly have to shift positions. Doing moderately intense stretches does help, but you have to be motivated to get up in the middle of the night to do them

Another complication that I've been having is neuropathic pain on my anterior shin. This started with numbness, and has progressed to allodynia (extreme pain with light touch). It feels like you have a burn on your skin, an anything that just brushes against it feels like sandpaper. When it was really bad, even the motion of my hair follicles on my shin would trigger pain. Thankfully, this is improving with the slower distraction rate and change in medications.

I'm very slowly getting my normal life back together, but it's really hard to do anything else when you stretch for 5 hours and do cardio for 1 hour when you're barely able to sleep 5 hours a night.

That said, no regrets so far.

[Limbfan2020]

Post op day 58 - 5cm

Hi everyone, thanks for reading my journal up  until now.

Today I've finally reached 5 cm. Dr. Becker has instructed me to slow down to 13 clicks per day (about 0.66mm/d) due to some neuropathic pain.

Overall, going from 4-5 cm was actually pretty easy compared to lengthening prior to this. Day to day stiffness isn't so bad, but that's probably because I'm still stretching 5 hours a day. Of note - sometimes holding stretches for 2 minutes each can be both incredibly boring and painful, it's just something that you have to get used to.

I'm not really feeling too much tightness from my IT bands, but my gait will spread a tiny bit if I'm not thinking about it when I walk. I think my hip flexors are the biggest issue right now, as I'm starting to get some anterior pelvic tilt, but nothing drastic. We'll see how well I hold up as I continue to lengthen.

Pain is pretty minimal at this point, unless I stay in the same position for more than 2 hours or so, but that can usually be resolved with some quick stretches.

The biggest issue for me is still sleep - despite sleeping aids I find that I will always wake up around 3-4 AM, and be unable to go back to sleep as I constantly have to shift positions. Doing moderately intense stretches does help, but you have to be motivated to get up in the middle of the night to do them

Another complication that I've been having is neuropathic pain on my anterior shin. This started with numbness, and has progressed to allodynia (extreme pain with light touch). It feels like you have a burn on your skin, an anything that just brushes against it feels like sandpaper. When it was really bad, even the motion of my hair follicles on my shin would trigger pain. Thankfully, this is improving with the slower distraction rate and change in medications.

I'm very slowly getting my normal life back together, but it's really hard to do anything else when you stretch for 5 hours and do cardio for 1 hour when you're barely able to sleep 5 hours a night.

That said, no regrets so far.

Congrats to this achievement!

Are you on Gabapentin?

[mc623]

Congrats to this achievement!

Are you on Gabapentin?

Thanks!
I'm on pregabalin

[Kanye Western]

Congrats so far on your journey.

How has life been with the new 5cm added height? How much lengthening are you anticipating doing?

Few questions to ask you;

1. Are you able to walk unassisted now?
2. Why are you stretching for such a long period of time daily?
3. Do you have any clicking pains? Or is the process just a daily routine now?

[mc623]

Congrats so far on your journey.

How has life been with the new 5cm added height? How much lengthening are you anticipating doing?

Few questions to ask you;

1. Are you able to walk unassisted now?
2. Why are you stretching for such a long period of time daily?
3. Do you have any clicking pains? Or is the process just a daily routine now?

5cm is quite noticeable when you're standing upright. It's a completely different perspective. My plan is to go to 8 cm and see if I feel like my neurosis is cured by then, and if not I'll see if I can tolerate going up to 10 cm.

1. I have been walking without crutches at home for a few weeks now. Of course, there is a large amount of sway that can somewhat be controlled. I wouldn't go outside without crutches as I wouldn't be safe on uneven surfaces, and long distances without crutches would be quite tiring.
2. Dr. Becker recommended 3-5 hours of stretching during lengthening. 5 is on the higher side, but I'm doing my best to try to delay and minimize anterior pelvic tilt and wide gait
3. Clicking is only barely painful on the left leg, and essentially painless on the right. The process takes less than 15 minutes to do both legs every morning.

[Kanye Western]

Ah very good!

Personally I think you should stick to 8cm. 5”7 is a great height without having to complicate your functionality.

Again, keep up the good work!

[mc623]

Decided to do a small update today.

Post-op day 96, 7.5 cm

Looking in the mirror now, any shame I used to feel over my height is almost gone. As above, I'm 7.5 cm in right now, and would probably appear a bit taller if I could fix my duck ass. I've decided to stop at 8 cm as I'm pretty happy with the way things are, and would really like to get my life back together.  Currently clicking at 12 clicks a day, soon to decrease to 10 until stopping at 8 cm.

I'm still stretching 4-5 hours a day, which in truth is quite exhausting. Fortunately, I have no wide legs whatsoever, so I'm assuming all that stretching is doing something - hopefully this can provide some reassurance for people who are concerned about a "soft" release vs a "full" release, granted I'm not going for 10-11cm like other patients. I have a small amount of duck-ass, but nothing major. I don't really expect this to improve until I stop lengthening and regain the muscles in my posterior leg and abdomen.

By far, the hardest centimeter for me was between 6-7, where the tightness and fatigue were so extreme that I thought about quitting every day, however, after hitting 7 cm, the tension has decreased quite significantly, which is probably due to reducing to 12 clicks per day. Sleep has also improved significantly, but I still wake up around 3 AM, having to stretch for about 10 minutes before I can sleep again.

I'm still using crutches to ambulate, but can  make do with one crutch going short distances, or no crutches at home.

I did have repeat x rays ordered by my family doctor, which demonstrates fairly good callous formation between the segments of distracted bone.

I'm doing more in-person work now, but not nearly full-time. I do get quite a few looks while I'm walking around on crutches. It's sometimes hard to deflect questions my colleagues have for me, but this isn't so much of an issue for me. 

Once I hit 8 cm, I'm hoping that I can stretch less and instead focus on stamina and strengthening. I'm holding off on buying new clothes until I've reached a body shape that I'm happy with.

[lessthanavg8300]

Decided to do a small update today.

Post-op day 96, 7.5 cm

Looking in the mirror now, any shame I used to feel over my height is almost gone. As above, I'm 7.5 cm in right now, and would probably appear a bit taller if I could fix my duck ass. I've decided to stop at 8 cm as I'm pretty happy with the way things are, and would really like to get my life back together.  Currently clicking at 12 clicks a day, soon to decrease to 10 until stopping at 8 cm.

I'm still stretching 4-5 hours a day, which in truth is quite exhausting. Fortunately, I have no wide legs whatsoever, so I'm assuming all that stretching is doing something - hopefully this can provide some reassurance for people who are concerned about a "soft" release vs a "full" release, granted I'm not going for 10-11cm like other patients. I have a small amount of duck-ass, but nothing major. I don't really expect this to improve until I stop lengthening and regain the muscles in my posterior leg and abdomen.

By far, the hardest centimeter for me was between 6-7, where the tightness and fatigue were so extreme that I thought about quitting every day, however, after hitting 7 cm, the tension has decreased quite significantly, which is probably due to reducing to 12 clicks per day. Sleep has also improved significantly, but I still wake up around 3 AM, having to stretch for about 10 minutes before I can sleep again.

I'm still using crutches to ambulate, but can  make do with one crutch going short distances, or no crutches at home.

I did have repeat x rays ordered by my family doctor, which demonstrates fairly good callous formation between the segments of distracted bone.

I'm doing more in-person work now, but not nearly full-time. I do get quite a few looks while I'm walking around on crutches. It's sometimes hard to deflect questions my colleagues have for me, but this isn't so much of an issue for me. 

Once I hit 8 cm, I'm hoping that I can stretch less and instead focus on stamina and strengthening. I'm holding off on buying new clothes until I've reached a body shape that I'm happy with.

You're going to need to continue to stretch for probably a solid month after stopping clicking, at least.  After that I would work on strengthening.  At least thats how long it took for me to loosen up to where I could walk normally again and I only did a bit over 3CM.

I have avoided strengthening because I feel like it could make me tighter and work against me.  So im stretching first, strengthening second.  But that just my plan.

[Kanye Western]

Hi mc,

Thanks for the update! Would you say it's been more complicated progressing from 5cm to 7.5cm in regards to lengthening and walking?

Also, you're still stretching for a super long period of time. Is it really necessary?

[goodlooks]

Hey congrats on your lengthening!

I too have the same personal stats as you!

Age: 30
Height 162cm
Weight: 53 kg
Goal: at least 8 cm
Ethnicity: East Asian

I'm also considering Becker on the tibias as well. I was wondering what country you are from? I'm from the US and I'm wondering if you had easy access to xrays and PT as i'm still trying to figure things out with that since in the US, you would need doctor referrals from both.

[mc623]

Hey congrats on your lengthening!

I too have the same personal stats as you!

Age: 30
Height 162cm
Weight: 53 kg
Goal: at least 8 cm
Ethnicity: East Asian

I'm also considering Becker on the tibias as well. I was wondering what country you are from? I'm from the US and I'm wondering if you had easy access to xrays and PT as i'm still trying to figure things out with that since in the US, you would need doctor referrals from both.

Hi!
I’m from Canada, you need referrals for X-rays here , but I just let my family doctor know about it, and he was happy to requisition them for me. PT here is private - you can pay out of pocket for it, but if you want your insurance to cover it you will have a prescription from a physician. Hopefully this will not be too hard once they see you on crutches.

Is there any reason you are going for tibias first? 8 cm seems like quite a lot to do on your tibias.

[mc623]

Hi mc,

Thanks for the update! Would you say it's been more complicated progressing from 5cm to 7.5cm in regards to lengthening and walking?

Also, you're still stretching for a super long period of time. Is it really necessary?

The only truly challenging phase excluding the immediate post-op period was from 6-7 cm @ 0.66mm/d. I don’t know why I had so much more stiffness then, but it resolved fairly quickly at 7 cm once dropping to 0.6 mm/d.

I continue to stretch 4-5 hours a day. It’s pretty boring, but you can watch tv, or play video games during the stretches once you’re good at them, with the exception of the IT band stretch which is excruciating. It’s probably not necessary, but my duck-ass is relatively mild compared to some other betz or Becker journals. There are some betz/becker journals here that have significant wide legs despite the soft IT band release, so I’m particular about trying to prevent it as much as possible. I don’t have much else to do during the day when I’m not working anyways.

[Kanye Western]

Informative. Becker said first 3cm would be hard but seems like you’re doing well.

I’ve taken 3 weeks off work initially just to get over post op pain, do you think this is enough?

I’ll just be standing whilst on laptop, so I’ll be able move around little. Do you think I’d be able Dutch crutches during my lengthening stage?

[goodlooks]

Oops total brain fart! i meant to write femurs!

I'm going to try to let my primary care doctor know after the procedure and see how to proceed from there. If not I will probably go to Urgent Care to get the Xrays done.

For physical therapy, if all fails, I will probably do it myself and follow your after your footsteps for 5 hours of stretching.