Quote from: TheDream on December 29, 2023, 10:56:03 PMInteresting. 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
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.
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?
Quote from: liltunechi on January 09, 2024, 12:45:54 PMHey 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.
Hi all
I had another appointment with the doctor. The procurvatum tibia deformity is only slightly better. It appears that the calf muscles are too big and push the tibia anteriorly, so we cannot procede with the correction until the calf muscles will be more relaxed. So the dr, told me to stop turning completely with the fixator (i was only turning the posterior rods to fix the misalignment since december 28). At least for 1 month, so until the next appointment, to give time to the muscles to relax so the the tibia will be slightly pushed posteriorly as well, than the next time we’ll do some “mini adjusments” for the “final correction”. This had me a bit worried, because i fear premature consolidation during this month.
I feel that my knee is slightly better since i stopped turning, but my feet are still bad. I have equinovarus feet, so they’re bot equinous and varus. I put all my weight on the point of my feet (equinous) and on the external border (varus).
The equinous, or ballerina as it’s called on this forum, is what really prevents me from walking. My heels do not touch the ground and the points of my feet hurts. I cannot remove my hans from the walker or I fall. I cannot even move the walker forward (no wheel) because of this. So I basically let someone pull the walker and I do 3-4 steps before feeling really tired on my upper body and in need to sit down to rest a bit, than other 3-4 steps.
Also i cannot stand straight, otherwise I tend to fall.
I’m feeling the worst since the surgery because I can’t walk like this, and if I can’t walk I cannot properly stretch the achille tendon.
I think my heels are 3-4 cm above the ground.
the doctor said this (equinous and varus) will go away with time and not to worry about. He also said I can use lifts to walk, but still have not tried. I fear lifts prevent me to fight ballerina?
I really hope the doctors are right and are not just trying to keep me calm. I will follow instructions and hope for the best.
Stay strong and keep us updated.
If I were you I would have serious concerns. Just don't be alarmed but be diligent. I would believe the main reason you got all these problems it's because you over-extended your tibias. In my opinion for tibias anything above the 4 to 5 cm range it's a big NO. I still don't understand why some Doctors suggest going over 4-5 cm. It makes no sense. If you do a quick research, the very best Drs. (Paley, Lee) they would never EVER suggest doing more than 5cm for tibias and a max of 8cm for femurs. There is a reason for that.
Quote from: sxxa on January 22, 2024, 04:51:59 PMIf I were you I would have serious concerns. Just don't be alarmed but be diligent. I would believe the main reason you got all these problems it's because you over-extended your tibias. In my opinion for tibias anything above the 4 to 5 cm range it's a big NO. I still don't understand why some Doctors suggest going over 4-5 cm. It makes no sense. If you do a quick research, the very best Drs. (Paley, Lee) they would never EVER suggest doing more than 5cm for tibias and a max of 8cm for femurs. There is a reason for that.
Lee does 7 cm does he not? At least I think I remember from his paper on recovery of his patients the average amount lengthened was 6 or 7 cm.
Most LLers can do 6.5cm on tibias without many issues. At least no more than 8cm on femurs.
4-5cm on tibias as a safety limit is a joke.
Bf of 3-4cm will become better as you start walking. Use lifts in the begining and with time remove 1cm till you don't need them. Even having always 1-2cm lifts is not a big deal to help you walk easier.
After all most of us before LL used much more than 2cm lifts.
Quote from: sxxa on January 22, 2024, 04:51:59 PMIf I were you I would have serious concerns. Just don't be alarmed but be diligent. I would believe the main reason you got all these problems it's because you over-extended your tibias. In my opinion for tibias anything above the 4 to 5 cm range it's a big NO. I still don't understand why some Doctors suggest going over 4-5 cm. It makes no sense. If you do a quick research, the very best Drs. (Paley, Lee) they would never EVER suggest doing more than 5cm for tibias and a max of 8cm for femurs. There is a reason for that.
I definitely reached my limit. Every doctor suggests different amount of lengthening. I did what my doctor suggested and not more.
As far as I know only paley suggests maximum 5 (but he did more, as you can understand from his article from the 90s: “problem, obstacles and complications of limb lengthening by the ilizarov technique”) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/20751607_Problems_Obstacles_and_Complications_of_Limb_Lengthening_by_the_Ilizarov_Technique
I just hope the ballerina feet will go away as I’m being told and that atl surgery is “rarely” necessary
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