Limb Lengthening Forum

Limb Lengthening Surgery => Limb Lengthening Patients Experiences => Topic started by: T_bone on July 04, 2020, 03:26:13 PM

Title: My LL surgery is in 9 days, but I injured my hamstring. Should I still do it?
Post by: T_bone on July 04, 2020, 03:26:13 PM
This is a question for the LL vets out there who have gone through this procedure.

I am very nervous about the state of my right hamstring as my surgery will be on my femurs. I injured it in March and for some reason it just wasn't healing. I went to go see the surgeon (Dr. Rozbruch) about 4 weeks ago and he examined me and said he doesn't see any reason why I shouldn't be able to reach 8cm. I started seeing a physio therapist right after and have seen improvement.

However earlier this week, while performing a stretching technique I pushed it very far, I felt no pain during the stretch, but the next morning it was horrendous. Burning and throbbing, I could hardly walk, and I am still limping 5 days later. I've lost a lot of flexibility in my right hamstring. It seems as if I re-injured it.

To all you LL vets out there, is this something that should worry me? I don't know what the actual lengthening procedure feels like. The doctor and physiotherapist said that the elongation happens so slowly that it won't trigger my pulled hamstring but I have my doubts. If I'm already feeling extreme tightness, pain, and limited flexibility, I'm hesitant to go through with this.

Any thoughts and advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Title: Re: My LL surgery is in 9 days, but I injured my hamstring. Should I still do it?
Post by: E Z on July 04, 2020, 05:18:34 PM
You’re going to be pretty immobilized regardless... unless the doctor advised you against doing it due to a tear or something, it’s just going to be something you have to deal with.

Title: Re: My LL surgery is in 9 days, but I injured my hamstring. Should I still do it?
Post by: T_bone on July 04, 2020, 06:00:28 PM
But what I'm concerned with is whether the pain and tightness will skyrocket to unbearable levels on account of elongating an already tight & injured leg. Going through all this and having to end the procedure early is what I'm really worried about.
Title: Re: My LL surgery is in 9 days, but I injured my hamstring. Should I still do it?
Post by: Michael J. Assayag, MD on July 04, 2020, 07:00:42 PM
T bone: remember this is not a life saving procedure. you should not rush into it and should make sure you are optimized for the best results possible.

With Rozbruch, you will start lengthening on day 4, at a rate of 1.33mm/day for 4 days, then 1mm per day. If you are in too much pain to start your PT, your results may be suboptimal.

there is no definite answer, it’s your call, but make sure you are in an optimal state
Title: Re: My LL surgery is in 9 days, but I injured my hamstring. Should I still do it?
Post by: T_bone on July 04, 2020, 07:46:35 PM
T bone: remember this is not a life saving procedure. you should not rush into it and should make sure you are optimized for the best results possible.

With Rozbruch, you will start lengthening on day 4, at a rate of 1.33mm/day for 4 days, then 1mm per day. If you are in too much pain to start your PT, your results may be suboptimal.

there is no definite answer, it’s your call, but make sure you are in an optimal state

Thank you Michael. I definitely have put pressure on myself to finally get this done because my hamstring recovery has been unpredictable. I injured it in March but it didn't start getting better until a couple weeks ago. And the idea of pushing this surgery back indefinitely (possibly numerous months) in the hopes that my hamstring will recover completely is a very difficult one to swallow. Especially as there are other factors that need to fit in timeframe wise such as work, living arrangements, etc...
Title: Re: My LL surgery is in 9 days, but I injured my hamstring. Should I still do it?
Post by: Movie on July 05, 2020, 01:52:20 AM
although It's a bit unfortunate I don't foresee any major issues, in fact It might even be beneficial to your hamstring recovery, because you won't be able to walk a lot so you won't have chance to really injure it more, you'll be allowing it to heal. As far as pain, the pain killers will also subdue that hamstring pain if there's any. I'd still go for it if it doesn't feel too bad; you'll be fine just keep stretching but don't push it as far as you did.
Title: Re: My LL surgery is in 9 days, but I injured my hamstring. Should I still do it?
Post by: T_bone on July 05, 2020, 03:27:31 AM
although It's a bit unfortunate I don't foresee any major issues, in fact It might even be beneficial to your hamstring recovery, because you won't be able to walk a lot so you won't have chance to really injure it more, you'll be allowing it to heal. As far as pain, the pain killers will also subdue that hamstring pain if there's any. I'd still go for it if it doesn't feel too bad; you'll be fine just keep stretching but don't push it as far as you did.

Movie, thanks brother. I've definitely been dwelling on the negative side of this, imagining scenarios where the pain from elongation rips my already overstretched muscle and the pain becomes unbearable. You may be right about my hamstring recovering at the same time. And your optimism is something I need to practice more of. From watching your recovery clips I could tell you had insane willpower. Not a moment of negativity. I felt like that initially but this has definitely phased me.
Title: Re: My LL surgery is in 9 days, but I injured my hamstring. Should I still do it?
Post by: Movie on July 05, 2020, 08:57:25 AM
we can't allow ourselves to dwell on negativity, the body is awesome, it heals itself pretty quickly if we help it do so, I think I told you before I had a hamstring pull as well, they're painful I just had to try not to walk on it for a couple weeks ... which shouldn't be hard for you if you do CLL lol. best of luck