Limb Lengthening Forum
Limb Lengthening Surgery => Limb Lengthening Discussions => Topic started by: ub40 on August 14, 2016, 10:32:01 PM
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I just had some questions for some of the veterans here.
I'm almost done lengthening and I have bad cases (I think) of ballerina foot on both feet. Now I wanted to know how to measure them so I know if I'm in trouble and what I can possibly do to fix them.
I've tried standing for one hour a day in two 30 minute increments and various stretches. I have noticed no improvements.
Any advice would be appreciated
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Continued weight bearing by standing for extended periods of time is the most effective way to treat it. It's how I got rid of mine over time.
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Stop lengthening immediately, that's the first thing you need to do. Trying to fix ballerina while lengthening is impossible, you need to fix it first before you continue otherwise you will make it much more difficult to fix later on. When you are standing are you standing barefoot? It's much less effective when you are standing with shoes. The best thing to do is wear a foot holder as much as you can throughout the day, and for a couple of hours each day attach weights under the knee while wearing the foot holder and try to touch your feet. Keep doing these stretches and you'll be able to fix it.
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Ballerina can sometimes only be fixed with surgery
Your dr should have locked your ankles.
you have to measure ballerina by angle, not cm. mine was bad too, and polycrates seems to still have issues with his calves/achilles
o the think i heard that works is undoing some of the lengthening. turn the screws the opposite way. i heard from a member here that is the only thing that worked for him
achilles issues are very common when you lengthen tibias over 6 cm. I'd reverse some of the lengthening if I were you. Miht be the only thing that prevents you from permanent issues
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Continued weight bearing by standing for extended periods of time is the most effective way to treat it. It's how I got rid of mine over time.
Can you give me more details like how long it took for it to go away? I just feel like I'm making no progress
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Stop lengthening immediately, that's the first thing you need to do. Trying to fix ballerina while lengthening is impossible, you need to fix it first before you continue otherwise you will make it much more difficult to fix later on. When you are standing are you standing barefoot? It's much less effective when you are standing with shoes. The best thing to do is wear a foot holder as much as you can throughout the day, and for a couple of hours each day attach weights under the knee while wearing the foot holder and try to touch your feet. Keep doing these stretches and you'll be able to fix it.
I just hit my max length today so I'm already at the much ! more difficult phase. The foot holder was a good idea and there was another patient here who was going to give/sell me his but then changed his mind right about the time it got too bad for me to wait to order and still be able to get it on.
As of now I'm standing barefoot for 30 minutes in the morning and 30 ! minutes before bed. It's painful as hell but I'll keep doing it if it's effective. I'll definitely try the wait on the knee and stretching. Couldn't even get a foot holder on at this point. Thanks for the advice
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How early did the ballerina foot come up? You're more likely going to need surgery to correct it if it appeared earlier in the lengthening phase than if it came up toward the end of it, where stretching is more successful at resolving the issue.
Are you able to walk? If you can, use your walker and walk around in a circle over and over for a half hour twice a day. If you don't have anything to keep your feet neutral during sleep it's going to take a lot longer to resolve through stretching.
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Ballerina can sometimes only be fixed with surgery
Your dr should have locked your ankles.
you have to measure ballerina by angle, not cm. mine was bad too, and polycrates seems to still have issues with his calves/achilles
o the think i heard that works is undoing some of the lengthening. turn the screws the opposite way. i heard from a member here that is the only thing that worked for him
achilles issues are very common when you lengthen tibias over 6 cm. I'd reverse some of the lengthening if I were you. Miht be the only thing that prevents you from permanent issues
Ah Crimson, was hoping you would see this thread. Thanks for responding. Any updates on your situation?
As for me Surgery is not an option. I'm at 6.2 cm and while I would love to keep my gains I'm willing to go back to 5.5 if there's a significant difference, even more if surgery is the alternative
As for the measurements, how can I measure the angle and what would be considered a bad or hopeless case?
How did you know that there would be no more stretching in your case?
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How early did the ballerina foot come up? You're more likely going to need surgery to correct it if it appeared earlier in the lengthening phase than if it came up toward the end of it, where stretching is more successful at resolving the issue.
Are you able to walk? If you can, use your walker and walk around in a circle over and over for a half hour twice a day. If you don't have anything to keep your feet neutral during sleep it's going to take a lot longer to resolve through stretching.
Unfortunately I got symptoms of it like tightness and knee pain when it was still under 2 cms but my ankles would straighten if I stood using the walker. At the 3.5 cm range is when my heels wouldn't touch the ground instantly when using the walker, past 4.5 no matter how long I stand the heels don't touch the ground
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Unfortunately I got symptoms of it like tightness and knee pain when it was still under 2 cms but my ankles would straighten if I stood using the walker. At the 3.5 cm range is when my heels wouldn't touch the ground instantly when using the walker, past 4.5 no matter how long I stand the heels don't touch the ground
Man, that sucks.
Has your doc been any help?
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Man, that sucks.
Has your doc been any help?
He told me it's at a manageable level. He also said going back a half cm would make things much easier. I think I'll give it a week of one hour a day stretching and standing to see if there's a noticeable difference. Just stopped lengthening 2 days ago
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you measure with a protractor, or an experienced surgeon will know by looking at it
only real solution for you is to reverse some of the lengthening, maybe a lot
if that doesn't work, you're looking at a long struggle
ballerina needs to be prevented, because once it comes, it tends to cause lingering issues
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you measure with a protractor, or an experienced surgeon will know by looking at it
only real solution for you is to reverse some of the lengthening, maybe a lot
if that doesn't work, you're looking at a long struggle
ballerina needs to be prevented, because once it comes, it tends to cause lingering issues
ok.. I understand how to measure angles but where am I measuring and what are numbers that should worry me?