Have you ever had any pain/implications/trouble/health issues due to the surgery in these2 years? Would you recommend it to others? Femur vs tibia which is better according to you?
Thanks in advance!
Yes I did experience chronic pain after a year post LL. Fortunately this wasn’t due to premature arthritis but the doctor suspected it was due to muscle atrophy which in turn caused muscle fatigue. The nail may have also contributed to the pain too.
Now that the nail is removed and intense physio of the legs, I haven’t experienced the chronic pain.
According to me, the safest route would be to external tibias, something that I was planning to do after my femurs. The reason is that it’s the least invasive, no reaming, lower risk of embolism, ability to have full control with the fixators. However the duration of the frames, pinsite infections and the scars are problematic. I personally would avoid any nailing to the tibias.
Internal femurs would be more comfortable,but it’s way more invasive than externals, higher risk of embolism, deep infection. Nail failure, cost and nail removal surgery are also things to think about.
It depends on how much you want to lengthen. If it’s a reasonable amount then you could aim for either external tibias or internal femurs, otherwise if you want to lengthen extreme amount, split it, as penguin mentioned above.