Limb Lengthening Forum
Limb Lengthening Surgery => Limb Lengthening Patients Experiences => Topic started by: stillsmall on February 09, 2016, 03:35:25 AM
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Hey guys in this forum, I just got my tibiae lengthening in Singapore. My initial height is 139cm and hoping to lengthen about 8cm (3 inches). Today is my 6th day post op. So far, have been walking bit by bit with a walker to the toilet and my bed otherwise, I'll be in my wheelchair or bed most of the time. Pin sites are still oozing blood through the dressing, quite painful but bearable. I do turns to my external fixators about 3 times a day. Any tips or experiences on external tibial lengthening, it is much appreciated, thanks!
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Wow man you could aim for a little bit more than 3 inches. I know ilizarov_girl did 10cm on each of her segments and she was 150cm.
But good luck after all!
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Was only suggested to do up to 8cm for faster recovery and better bone formation, can lengthe my femurs in the future if I choose to. Thanks :D
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Considering everything for you, sure go ahead!
Wish you a speedy recovery!
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Thank you!!!
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Welcome aboard, I don't recall any diary with anybody starting below 140cm, so it should be interesting to follow yours. Best of luck dude!
Btw, is your insurance covering any of your costs for the procedure?
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I'm not under insurance, it's from own savings. I'm only 19 btw
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You can actually have multiple osteotomies on same segment separated into multiple surgeries...
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thanks for the info :)
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i would recommend 6cm as 8cm no full recovery not matter what others say i am only speaking from my own experience
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phisicall wuality of life is more important then spiritual life quality
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My dr only put 4cms rod as of now so not sure if 8cm is achievable. Will probably only achieve 6-7cm of my desired height :)
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thats goood keep ur legs always straight knee bend problems are bad after lenthening and use a foot holder from ballerina always remember this always use foot holder as ballerina is the worse thing you can have
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My pin sites still hurts and still bleeds especially when I try to bend or straighten my legs :/ also, how do I know that my leg has started to lengthen? Is it when my muscles hurt from being stretched?
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What type of externals are you lenghtening. How painful is it? You can only tell how much you have lenghthened from the x rays. And may i know your doctor. Good luck on your journey.
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LATN with the monolateral fixators! Dr Sarbjit Singh. The pain is bearable for the most part but only the wounds are painful now and stretching the muscles.
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You can actually have multiple osteotomies on same segment separated into multiple surgeries...
Do you know anybody has done multipe surgeries in same segment?
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wound need time to heal properly for the pain to goaway but in your case your skin is teraing from lenthening and thats why you experiencing pain , but keep your legs straight and foot holder just pop the pain killer and exercise them
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Hey guys, what other exercises can I do to help my ankles from not developing ballerina and also knee exercises? Thanks
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Hey guys, what other exercises can I do to help my ankles from not developing ballerina and also knee exercises? Thanks
Walk, stand straight with no shoes. You'll feel exactly when ballerina starts developing when it becomes harder for you to stand completely straight with your legs and torso straight, heels on the ground.
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What type of externals are you lenghtening. How painful is it? You can only tell how much you have lenghthened from the x rays. And may i know your doctor. Good luck on your journey.
LATN with the monolateral fixators! Dr Sarbjit Singh. The pain is bearable for the most part but only the wounds are painful now and stretching the muscles.
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Can't sleep. My fixators are extremely heavy abd it's making me uncomfortable I want to cry
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Hey guys, my ankles are still swollen. Especially the left one. How do I reduce the swelling? Do more stretches?
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Hey guys, my ankles are still swollen. Especially the left one. How do I reduce the swelling? Do more stretches?
Are you in Singapore? Are you in touch with your doctor?
Have you communicated what you're going through to him?
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Hey guys, my ankles are still swollen. Especially the left one. How do I reduce the swelling? Do more stretches?
try keeping your legs elevated with pillows under your ankles etc. but yeah your doctor is prob the best person to ask
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Just a quick update.
Got my first xrays done two weeks post surgery and my dr said they look fine. Can see little callus forming already!! Can't wait for me to reach my goal height!
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Hey guys, I need your help, what does it mean when my legs are experiencing muscles spasms? Because it hurts bad when it happens and how do I make it go away? :'(
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Hey guys, I need your help, what does it mean when my legs are experiencing muscles spasms? Because it hurts bad when it happens and how do I make it go away? :'(
It must be by nerves, try to eat salmon and similar fishes rich in oil. Some LLs told me they take "alarerv", Every day I take one pill.
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Leemry, I wouldn't worry so much about the swelling. For whatever reason, the medical field has been super crazy about reducing swelling, pumping people full of anti inflammatories, and such. New medical research says that actually swelling does hurt in the short term, yes, but in the long term swelling actually helps with healing. I wouldn't worry that much about it. Get your feet above your heart, and or do high leg raises. Don't take anti infammatories what ever you do.
Hey guys, my ankles are still swollen. Especially the left one. How do I reduce the swelling? Do more stretches?
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Another Limb Lengthening patient taught me this trick. If you put a pillow under your legs at night, and bend your legs outward slightly kind of like doing a butterfly stretch then that will take the pressure off the knees. They say you are supposed to sleep straight legged, but when ever I did that I would just get horrible muscle spasms to the point where I would clenched my legs so tight right as I was about to dose off, and i would experience the most horrible pain at the point where the bone broke. It became between a decision of sleeping and healing or not sleeping but having straight legs. lol
It must be by nerves, try to eat salmon and similar fishes rich in oil. Some LLs told me they take "alarerv", Every day I take one pill.
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Another Limb Lengthening patient taught me this trick. If you put a pillow under your legs at night, and bend your legs outward slightly kind of like doing a butterfly stretch then that will take the pressure off the knees. They say you are supposed to sleep straight legged, but when ever I did that I would just get horrible muscle spasms to the point where I would clenched my legs so tight right as I was about to dose off, and i would experience the most horrible pain at the point where the bone broke. It became between a decision of sleeping and healing or not sleeping but having straight legs. lol
Hello! Thanks for the suggestion but thing is, it's much difficult for me to bend both knees when I'm asleep so I usually just bend whichever leg that doesn't hurt and the other leg would be straight.
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Quick question, How long did it take you to get the surgery set up after a consultation? I'm looking to get surgery over the summer by i don't know if It's too late to get a surgery by then
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Quick question, How long did it take you to get the surgery set up after a consultation? I'm looking to get surgery over the summer by i don't know if It's too late to get a surgery by then
Hello, I had the surgery done about 2 weeks after the consultation.
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Hey guys, sorry for not updating in a long time. I am now at 5cms on my tibiae! 2.5 cms left to lengthen. However, I've had troubles with ballerina foot and is now making me a little difficult to walk. Sigh. Will update more soon.
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Hey guys, sorry for never updating this forum but my progress seems to be okay only I have ballerina foot now and trying to work on it. I'm going to stop lengthening in 2 weeks time and will have my fixators off next month and have the IM rod nailed into my tibia.
Anyways, I will be having an off time from this forum for awhile.
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Why did you choose LATN in tibia instead of femur like bluebarbie? Was it because it was less painful? Or was it better proportion-wise?
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Why did you choose LATN in tibia instead of femur like bluebarbie? Was it because it was less painful? Or was it better proportion-wise?
Hi. I chose LATN on tibia because my tibias were shorter than my femurs. So yeah, basically it was about proportion because it would've been awkward if I did my femurs.
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Can you tell us why you chose latn instead of lon?
How's everything going so far?
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Can you tell us why you chose latn instead of lon?
How's everything going so far?
Chose LATN over LON because this was suitable for my tibias as my bones were small so I couldn't have the nail in my tibias during the lengthening. Everything's going good so far, going to take my fixators off in a couple of weeks!
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Hi guys, I just wanna know how long did it take for ballerina and bent knees to recover after removing the external fixators? My ballerina just sucks right now and LITERALLY walking on my tiptoes. Only 18 days left for me until I get my ex fix off.
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hey guys, just wanted to let you know that my fixators are off. Feels a lot better now. Will update more, soon.
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hey guys, just wanted to let you know that my fixators are off. Feels a lot better now. Will update more, soon.
Congrats leemry how's the ballerina issue?
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Congrats leemry how's the ballerina issue?
Still there but I was told to just exercise to let it go off on its own. I lengthened about 6cms after the internal nailing.
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Hello! It has been approximately 2 months after my internal nailing. My legs are getting stronger everyday but still working on my ballerina foot on my right leg (slowly going down though). I am now able to do full weightbearing with crutches. Cannot wait to get back to normal walking!!
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Congratulations ;D How many cms is your ballerina now? Hopefully you'll be completely rid of it soon.
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That's awesome to hear. Your very close. Dr. LON did 6cm as well (from old forum ) and he can walk without supports now 3 months after lengthening so your very close to ditching those crutches! Keep it up and let us know when you ditch those supports!
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Were you born with dwarfism or did you naturally reach that height, if you don't mind me asking?
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Hello! It has been approximately 2 months after my internal nailing. My legs are getting stronger everyday but still working on my ballerina foot on my right leg (slowly going down though). I am now able to do full weightbearing with crutches. Cannot wait to get back to normal walking!!
Hey Stillsmall -
Here are some exercises that worked well for me to reduce the ballerina and knee bending.
1)Knee Bending -
Put on ankle weights (start with 1 Kg and go upto 2Kg), sleep on your belly with Knees just below the edge of your bed and dangle your legs in air. Fold your leg near the knee and then straighten it back. Keep doing it alternatively with each leg, as many as you can.
2)Ballerina -
Wear ankle weights(2 Kg or more if you can) when you walk or stand. I'd say first focus on standing for long hours with ankle weights and get your heels grounded. Then wait for your calf to relax in that position. You would know it when your toes stop pushing against the ground. Once your calf is relaxed, walk for some time (on your heels and not on toes) and then get back to standing. You'd notice that your heel goes back in the air after few mins of walking. So you do the this multiple times and over a period it gets better.
Good luck, You're a brave girl. I hope you feel content now and wish you a quick and safe recovery.
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Were you born with dwarfism or did you naturally reach that height, if you don't mind me asking?
I wasn't and did not have dwarfism to begin with. I just stopped growing at 139cm.
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Hey Stillsmall -
Here are some exercises that worked well for me to reduce the ballerina and knee bending.
1)Knee Bending -
Put on ankle weights (start with 1 Kg and go upto 2Kg), sleep on your belly with Knees just below the edge of your bed and dangle your legs in air. Fold your leg near the knee and then straighten it back. Keep doing it alternatively with each leg, as many as you can.
2)Ballerina -
Wear ankle weights(2 Kg or more if you can) when you walk or stand. I'd say first focus on standing for long hours with ankle weights and get your heels grounded. Then wait for your calf to relax in that position. You would know it when your toes stop pushing against the ground. Once your calf is relaxed, walk for some time (on your heels and not on toes) and then get back to standing. You'd notice that your heel goes back in the air after few mins of walking. So you do the this multiple times and over a period it gets better.
Good luck, You're a brave girl. I hope you feel content now and wish you a quick and safe recovery.
Hello! Thanks for the tips. I am currently using 4kg of ankle weights on each leg as of now and might have to use more than that now since it's too light for me already!
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Hello all 😊 Just wanted to update on my current progress. My right knee is now finally straight and my ballerina foot has reduced a lot. In fact, my foot can reach the ground already! I am still on crutches but only using it for long distances. I'm able to walk short distances and around the house without them. This is all due to physio and self effort! (I still have a slight limp when I walk, that's just a sign I need to do more strengthening exercises)
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Hey stillsmall,
Thank you for your update. When you walk short distances, is the limp noticeable?
Thanks
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Yes, it is. But not that bad.
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Wow. It has been almost a month after letting go of the crutches and now walking like normal. I still do PT but now it's all about improving my balance and stretching out my calves and right ankle.
A quick question to anybody who has done LATN, do you still experience pains on your knees? Especially the screws because my knees feel locked after sitting for a long period of time.
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Hi, can i know are you doing both legs at the same time or each leg at a time?
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Which os the cost of LATN procedure?