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[Hobbit99]

How well maybe with procurvatum it's longer? Anyway I also have procurvatum that I need to fix as soon as I finish lengthening. It happened after I started lengthening as a complication.
It's a bit weird to ask my doctor how much time for another patient from another country cured by another doctor, but I'll see next time.

[Hobbit99]

Having excruciating pain when trying to move my right leg now. It’s from some pin sites. They’re clean, but that area and the muscleres around cannot be moved right now. So my right leg is paralyzed (I mean, the leg works, but it’s so painful to move). I hope it will go away, looks like a pin site inflammation.

[Hobbit99]

Having excruciating pain when trying to move my right leg now. It’s from some pin sites. They’re clean (mostly) but that area and the muscles around cannot be moved right now. So my right leg is paralyzed (I mean, the leg works, but it’s so painful to move). I hope it will go away, looks like a pin site inflammation.

[Body Builder]

Thank you so much. I asked this question to Dr. Assayag, and he said to expect to be in frames for 6 months. I asked him again, to make sure he didn’t misunderstand…again he said to expect 6 months. 

I was so confused. 

What do you guys think?

For 2 cm? Of course not. If you have very slow consolidation you will need max 4 months for 2cm.

Hobbit99 clean the pin sites that hurt with disinfectant with something like betadine. Don't let it worsen. If it persists talk with your doctor to begin some oral antibiotics for 5-6 days and it will be fine. But you must not postpone it for many days

[Hobbit99]

For 2 cm? Of course not. If you have very slow consolidation you will need max 4 months for 2cm.

Hobbit99 clean the pin sites that hurt with disinfectant with something like betadine. Don't let it worsen. If it persists talk with your doctor to begin some oral antibiotics for 5-6 days and it will be fine. But you must not postpone it for many days

For now I’m putting betadine there. Let’s see how it goes

[Beemer m3]

u must be turning the screws and the pin is moving the bones and skin up . sometime my pin site hurts because there was a cut near it from turning alot.

[Hobbit99]

u must be turning the screws and the pin is moving the bones and skin up . sometime my pin site hurts because there was a cut near it from turning alot.

yea, some have big cuts and even some discharge but no pain. This one has just a small cut, no discharge and makes my leg impossible to move due to pain. The area of the skin around is very sensible when touching and hurts a lot.

[limby101]

About those time calculation per cm...
Bodybuilder I actually relied on your opinion of 30-45 days per cm and I was shocked when my doc said 6 months for 3 cm...
I was actually so shocked that he started to doubt himself even...
But in actuality this is the surgeons experience.
I'm 7 months exactly after surgery and still not close to 100% full consolidation.
I was really down and worried for a long time with thoughts of delayed union, but after searching more I see that tibia can heal as much as 2 to 3 months per cm.
So when you're prepared for 4 months recovery, doing let's say 4cm and thinking it's a month /cm, when it's 2-2.5 months/cm, you suddenly get to 8 months. That's serious when you're preparing mentally for this journey.

I think it's important to know theres a range and variability with people's recovery and not to plan for specific outcome.

[Hobbit99]

About those time calculation per cm...
Bodybuilder I actually relied on your opinion of 30-45 days per cm and I was shocked when my doc said 6 months for 3 cm...
I was actually so shocked that he started to doubt himself even...
But in actuality this is the surgeons experience.
I'm 7 months exactly after surgery and still not close to 100% full consolidation.
I was really down and worried for a long time with thoughts of delayed union, but after searching more I see that tibia can heal as much as 2 to 3 months per cm.
So when you're prepared for 4 months recovery, doing let's say 4cm and thinking it's a month /cm, when it's 2-2.5 months/cm, you suddenly get to 8 months. That's serious when you're preparing mentally for this journey.

I think it's important to know theres a range and variability with people's recovery and not to plan for specific outcome.

What i hope is that consolidation phase will be easier even in frames. As of now I can’t walk more than 20 steps with the walker without feeling very tired.
As far as I know after finishing lengthening you will be in crutches and later on walk unassisted.

[limby101]

About walking.
I was also told prior to surgery that the ilizarov can weight bare so you can be weight bearing very early.
I was getting off the bed and walk with crutches since day1 after surgery, and then some former patient told me I'll be able to put all weight on the leg in 3 months. And I was like "3 months?!" Hell no I'm gonna do it in two weeks maximum. In reality putting all your weight on a fractured leg isn't that simple. And it actually took me about 3+ months to be able to walk with one crutch and maybe 4.5-5 months to walk unassisted, very slowly and carefully.
So to summarize, take your time, do whatever is tolerated with a tad tendency to push yourself a little further through the pain, but not much more than this.

[Hobbit99]

About walking.
I was also told prior to surgery that the ilizarov can weight bare so you can be weight bearing very early.
I was getting off the bed and walk with crutches since day1 after surgery, and then some former patient told me I'll be able to put all weight on the leg in 3 months. And I was like "3 months?!" Hell no I'm gonna do it in two weeks maximum. In reality putting all your weight on a fractured leg isn't that simple. And it actually took me about 3+ months to be able to walk with one crutch and maybe 4.5-5 months to walk unassisted, very slowly and carefully.
So to summarize, take your time, do whatever is tolerated with a tad tendency to push yourself a little further through the pain, but not much more than this.

My doctor advised me to stand and walk as much as I possible because it helps callus formation.

I’m a bit scared of losing height because someone in this forum said that at the end they were even 1,5 cm shorter than expected

[Body Builder]

About those time calculation per cm...
Bodybuilder I actually relied on your opinion of 30-45 days per cm and I was shocked when my doc said 6 months for 3 cm...
I was actually so shocked that he started to doubt himself even...
But in actuality this is the surgeons experience.
I'm 7 months exactly after surgery and still not close to 100% full consolidation.
I was really down and worried for a long time with thoughts of delayed union, but after searching more I see that tibia can heal as much as 2 to 3 months per cm.
So when you're prepared for 4 months recovery, doing let's say 4cm and thinking it's a month /cm, when it's 2-2.5 months/cm, you suddenly get to 8 months. That's serious when you're preparing mentally for this journey.

I think it's important to know theres a range and variability with people's recovery and not to plan for specific outcome.

I needed less than 11 months for 7.5cm although I kept the frames one month more to not lose even 1mm. So for 7,5 cm I needed 11 months which means exactly days for each cm. And the more you lengthen you need a little.more time.for each cm. If I lengthened just 2cm I don't thunk I would have needed more than 80 days.
But I was young (23yo) and very healthy however I never used any vitamin d or calcium supplements and all these. Just normal food.

Anyway, about 45-50 days for each cm is the average. More than 60 days for a cm means a delayed consolidation but still you will be fine in the end, just be patient. But more than 60cm per cm is problematic. Somethimg is wrong if someome needs that much time.

[Ayesha12345]

Consolidation is much easier than lengthening as your leg gets to relax but pls don’t go further than 6cm. Some drs are patient pleasers and don’t stop them even when it’s necessary, it’s not about having been paid already. I’ve did 4.5 and am happy with it. The patients I know who did 6cm have a much longer & tougher recovery and are advised a calf release to relax the muscle. Think about your future & functionality. No point in being tall if u lose good function

[Hobbit99]

Consolidation is much easier than lengthening as your leg gets to relax but pls don’t go further than 6cm. Some drs are patient pleasers and don’t stop them even when it’s necessary, it’s not about having been paid already. I’ve did 4.5 and am happy with it. The patients I know who did 6cm have a much longer & tougher recovery and are advised a calf release to relax the muscle. Think about your future & functionality. No point in being tall if u lose good function

If my recovery will be longer I don’t care. I only care about permanent damages.
For now my doctor says I’m doing well. I have a knee contracture but it’s not clinically severe and it should go away with physiotherapy.
Next time i see my doctor I will be around 6,5 cm. He said I can go to 7 depending how well he will find me next time.

I know it could be risky, but I trust my doctor can predict/fix complications and also everything beyond 5cm if risky. I need to take some risks and also trust my doctor. If he says I can go to 7 than he should be right. If I do less because someone in a forum told me it’s risky than I could have regrets later on.

Also what if 6 cm in realy is 1cm less, about 5cm like some people reported? Like sweden or lumiere. I would be 167 with only real 5cms. With 7cms I’m sure I will be at least 168 like my father, my target height.

Remember that I have a very bad starting height, below the 3° percentile.

Need to trusts the expers and take some risks.


edit: in theory my doctors let patients lengthen tibias up to 8cms. But in my case I was advised against. Always suggested 6-7. I don’t think he’s a pleaser

[Hobbit99]

regarding femurs

more than a couple people asked in my pms if Kirienko also does femurs.

I know for sure he can lengthen femurs, but I don’t know if he does it for cosmetic reasons.

There are some treatments example on this website. One about a girl with a discrepancy in the femurs that got lengthened with precice nail and another with the ilizarov apparatus mounted to the femur.

Regarding cosmetic lengthenings there are 3-4 examples of patients all lengthened with ilizarov on tibia by 5-8 cms.

So if you’re interested in femurs I think you should ask him directly by mail. Also ask him which method he uses for cosmetic femurs because I feel that 2 ilizarov frames on femurs could be very hard to manage for the patient.

[Hobbit99]

I'm starting to walk tip toes. Almost 6cm.
Pain during physiotherapy is really bad.

[limby101]

What pain are you having?
Is it muscle pain?
If it's muscle pain of the sort of tightness like a sore muscle after workout, when stretched, than it most probably temporary.

It's a bummer to be worried of every pain that it might be a complication and permanent, but 99 of the cases is a temporary pain which will subside once you stop lengthening...

Maybe slow down the lengthening phase or take some days off..

[Hobbit99]

What pain are you having?
Is it muscle pain?
If it's muscle pain of the sort of tightness like a sore muscle after workout, when stretched, than it most probably temporary.

It's a bummer to be worried of every pain that it might be a complication and permanent, but 99 of the cases is a temporary pain which will subside once you stop lengthening...

Maybe slow down the lengthening phase or take some days off..

I'm not really sure how to know what tipe of pain it is

When you take a break, does pain stops immediately the day after or maybe a week later or something? So to stop/reduce pain for how many days should I stop the lengthening?

Pain is just when I stretch just to clarify. When my pt stretches my knee.

[limby101]

I would address that as the normal expected "good" pain.
Still I wouldn't worry about stopping lengthening for few days to let the soft tissue adapt. It takes about 3 weeks I thin in minimal to get to the risk of early consolidation.

Still, ask your doc to make sure..

[Hobbit99]

I turned 6,8 but Dr. Kirienko today said it's closer to 6,2 or 6 cm in reality (don't know why). I will lengthen another 0,5cm (till the 27) and then I will only turn the posterior screws to fix the procurvatum on both legs. He says I will be around 6.5 cm I should keep that gain, with no lose during consolidation phase nor after fixator removal.

I'm having much more pain lately and standing is hard as the first days, probably because I'm about to reach my limit.

[Hobbit99]

Finally finished with the lengthening phase. Tomorrow I will start the procurvatum correction.

Pain has become really intense on my right leg. Sometimes even little movements make me scream from pain. I need to stand completely still some times to not let that horrible pain kick in. I think it’s nerve pain. It also happened on my left leg at around 4 cm mark but then it went away.

I hope the correction is not as painful since I just need to turn the posterior screws to change the angle of the proximal ring of the fixator.

[Body Builder]

Stay strong dude, the hard part is over. Now you just need time and some pt.and you will be ready to enjoy your new height.

[Beemer m3]

i remember my fibula had really intense pain in the beginning because it was broken. but it eventually went away with time passing by.

[TheDream]

Hobbit did your doc tell you to go 1 mm/day for the entire 6.8 cm lengthening?

[Hobbit99]

Hobbit did your doc tell you to go 1 mm/day for the entire 6.8 cm lengthening?

yes

73 turns at 1mm/day
for around 6.5 cm gain according to my doctor

[Hobbit99]

i remember my fibula had really intense pain in the beginning because it was broken. but it eventually went away with time passing by.

well of course it’s broken
even the tibia it’s broken

[TheDream]

yes

73 turns at 1mm/day
for around 6.5 cm gain according to my doctor

Interesting. I wonder why he didnt recommend slowing down after the first couple of centimeters which I think from other diaries is more normal.

[Hobbit99]

Interesting. I wonder why he didnt recommend slowing down after the first couple of centimeters which I think from other diaries is more normal.

yeah, I don’t know

[Hobbit99]

I'm a bit depressed because I still can't walk even with the walker. The pain is slowing going away but the knee is bent and It's really hard to walk with the point of your feet and not fall. I hope this will go away or at least get better in 1-2 months.

This and next week I'll do pt every day because I also got covid and didn't stretch/excercise enough these days.

[liltunechi]

Hey hobbit. I hope your doing well.

Since your doing purely external with illirarov I wanted to ask you:

How much walking do you do a day?  How has this changed the more you lengthened?

Do you use a walker or crutches?

What exercises do you do for your physiotherapy? I will really appreciate it if you can write down all the things you do for your physio. For example, what exercises and what stretches.

Also how many times a day do you do your excercises?

And finally, are you basically in bed the whole day?

[Hobbit99]

Hey hobbit. I hope your doing well.

Since your doing purely external with illirarov I wanted to ask you:

How much walking do you do a day?  How has this changed the more you lengthened?

Do you use a walker or crutches?

What exercises do you do for your physiotherapy? I will really appreciate it if you can write down all the things you do for your physio. For example, what exercises and what stretches.

Also how many times a day do you do your excercises?

And finally, are you basically in bed the whole day?

Hi, I think it's a bit better but I'm still on the point of my feet (ballerina? bent knee? don't know exactly the cause) so it's really tiring, 2-4 steps and I need to sit down because my feet hurts. I sent the doctor some photos and he said I need to have patience until the muscle will give up and both the knee and feet will go straight again.

I'm using a walker since the day after the surgery. Initially I could walk around 20 steps (3 days after surgery). Then when I started the lengthening I could not walk more than  1-2 steps for about 2 weeks because intense pain on my leg. Between 3 and 4 cm I could easily walk 20-50 steps and even climb some stairs. Around the 5 cm mark I was walking with my feet slightly on their points but it was still doable. Now at 7,3 cm (6,5 real gain according to the doctor) walking is really hard as I described before.

I'm basically on the bed/couch/chair the whole day

For physiotherapy the number 1 thing is to straighten bot the feet and the knee (feet are ballerina AND varus). The knee especially hurts a lot to the point that I scream during the stretching. Initially, 1-2 week after surgery, I needed to stand up and walk a lot to stimulate initial bone callus formation, even if it hurts a lot (I mean a lot). Now we stretch a lot the knee, the ankle and when I stand up we try to bring the heels down as much as I can.

Still no crutches, only walker. Around 3-4 cms I could remove my hands from the walker and stand a bit unassisted (but not walking). Now it's not possible anymore because my feet do not touch the ground completely.