Femur lengthening with Dr. Betz - 2021

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You are the model LL patient. 13 more days to go!

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@chasing_higher_dream: you are a LEGEND fam. 7cm and it just looks like you went a little too hard on leg day. How has your strength been throughout these last few months? Obviously you haven't really had any flexibility issues which is insane, but how has regaining your strength been coming along? Do you feel pretty normal/strong while walking? What about during everyday movements and activities? You're an inspiration man, thanks again for the detailed diary.

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@ SirStretchAlot: Thanks Yes, just a few more days to go.

@ slender: Thanks. My strength is pretty good, I do not feel weakness of any kind while doing normal daily activities and walking short distances. But when I walk for 1 km or more, my muscles start to fatigue and I feel tired quicker. Though this is expected since all of my leg muscles have atrophied and it will take time to rebuild the strength and endurance which have lost due to surgery and lengthening process. Currently, I do a couple of exercises (mainly planks and body weight squats) to regain strength of my leg muscles, but I do not push myself too much. I will start the dedicated process to regain the strength of muscles post I finish my lengthening process.

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104 days post-surgery --- 8 cm lengthened

Video of my walk at 8 cm (with crutches): https://imgur.com/a/XjmQLy7
Video of my walk at 8 cm (without crutches): https://imgur.com/a/7TyJgXq

Function
The function is still very good. Nothing to complain about this side. No wide legs, nor any duck ass yet. The range of motion of all of my muscles is close to 100%. The previous problem mentioned of sideways pelvis tilt has also been being corrected by 50%, though I am still working on it.  Overall I am happy with the state I am in currently.

Clicking
I was clicking at 15 clicks per day (0.78 mm) till 7.8 cm. Post that due to increased tightness, I have reduced the clicks to 10 clicks per day (0.52 mm).

Pain
Overall I do not feel pain anymore. Neither muscle pain nor nerve-related pains. Though I am still consuming all the medications including painkillers.

Sleep
Sleep quality has improved due to decreasing the number of clicks per day. Overall I sleep around 6 hours at night.

Misc
I was in the office party and was around a lot of people and my height neurosis did not trigger this time. I was not comparing my height to other people. This has been a relief since I am now able to live in the moment and enjoy it, rather than thinking about my height all the time.
I have also bought a Stadiometer to measure myself accurately and I am happy that I measure exactly 178 cm in the evening/night and have finally reached my goal height. My function is still perfect and the way I look - with and without clothes on while standing and also when I sit, I do not feel disproportionate (maybe this is due to my higher tibia to femur ratio when I started), hence, I have decided to continue the lengthening process past my goal and I will monitor myself continuously, the next target is 9 cm.

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Wow man congrats, how did u not get any wide legs and duck ass? How did u prevent it?

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Congrats!  Anyone af the office party notice the new height?  Any comments about the new height? 

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Man, you must've stretched like a champ to be in this state at 8cm. This goes to show what's possible with enough hard work. My duckass and wide legs are ugly by comparison. 

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@SirStretchAlot: Thanks a lot. I appreciate your support Your condition will also improve drastically once you are in your consolidation phase.

@Antonio111111: The only way to avoid complications is religiously stretch for at least 2 hours a day, 3 hours would be even better, spanned out in 3 equal intervals throughout the day. Also, try to maintain each stretch at least 30 seconds minimum for it to work. I did all of my stretches which were stated by physiotherapist Peter Woll. Also, I would highly recommend setting up "wall bars" in your home, they allow you to stretch more deeply, they are god sent for stretching.

@L8GrowthSpurt: I have been consistently going once a day per week to the office, hence my team has gradually seen me grow, it was not all of a sudden. Hence, there was no big shock from my team. But the other office colleagues whom I met after a long time were in a state of shock.

Colleague 1: One of my colleagues came to meet me at the party, I was sitting on a chair enjoying the drink. But then I stood up to greet him and I could see the state of disbelief and shock he had in his eyes. He was not able to see me eye to eye for some reason. He is 5'10'' and now I was at the same height as him. He ended the conversation quite abruptly and was checking me out every now and then.

Colleague 2 and 3: The other two colleagues (both around 6 feet) could not pinpoint what was changed in me, they were saying that I have lost weight at the same time I was looking big for some reason. They did not say directly that my height has increased.

Colleague 4: One of my colleagues (he is 5'7'') immediately noticed the increased height and he pointed it out to me. He asked whether I was wearing height-increasing shoes, I just nodded and said yes, since I did not want to discuss this topic.

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End of lengthening phase --- 107 days post-surgery --- 8.1 cm lengthened

I have dropped the plan to go till 9cm. I would be stopping at 8.1 cm, there are numerous reasons for this:

1. First and foremost, my height neurosis seems to have gone. I do not compare my height in public with strangers anymore. This is a big relief for me.

2. I am happy with the way I look in the mirror and I am also happy with my current proportions. My femurs look long but they seem very normal and natural. I have a gut feeling that if I lengthen more this may not be the case anymore.

3. My starting tibia to femur ratio was 86%. After lengthening 8.1 cm, my t/f ratio is 72.8%. I do not want to lower this ratio any further, since the normal range lies around 77% to 83%.
Note: A person who has an initial t/f ratio of 80% and if he lengthens just 5 cm, then his new t/f ratio would be 72.7% (which is lower than that of mine even after lengthening 8.1 cm). So the higher the t/f ratio at the start, the more liberty you have to lengthen your femurs without looking abnormal.

4. I had a talk with physiotherapist Peter Woll and his opinion was the more you go past the 8 cm mark, the exponential the recovery time gets. Since right now I have no complications and perfect function, I would like to retain this and end my lengthening with a good note.

Lastly, this has been one hell of a ride. You need patience and sincerity to follow along with the strict regime of your stretches. If you are able to stick to the schedule and process, then you will fair very good till the end. I am thankful to Dr. Betz and his team and physiotherapist Peter Woll for the guidance. So far, I am satisfied with the journey and I am looking forward to the consolidation and my recovery.

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Quote from: chasing_higher_dream on September 15, 2021, 09:25:44 AMEnd of lengthening phase --- 107 days post-surgery --- 8.1 cm lengthened

I have dropped the plan to go till 9cm. I would be stopping at 8.1 cm, there are numerous reasons for this:

1. First and foremost, my height neurosis seems to have gone. I do not compare my height in public with strangers anymore. This is a big relief for me.

2. I am happy with the way I look in the mirror and I am also happy with my current proportions. My femurs look long but they seem very normal and natural. I have a gut feeling that if I lengthen more this may not be the case anymore.

3. My starting tibia to femur ratio was 86%. After lengthening 8.1 cm, my t/f ratio is 72.8%. I do not want to lower this ratio any further, since the normal range lies around 77% to 83%.
Note: A person who has an initial t/f ratio of 80% and if he lengthens just 5 cm, then his new t/f ratio would be 72.7% (which is lower than that of mine even after lengthening 8.1 cm). So the higher the t/f ratio at the start, the more liberty you have to lengthen your femurs without looking abnormal.

4. I had a talk with physiotherapist Peter Woll and his opinion was the more you go past the 8 cm mark, the exponential the recovery time gets. Since right now I have no complications and perfect function, I would like to retain this and end my lengthening with a good note.

Lastly, this has been one hell of a ride. You need patience and sincerity to follow along with the strict regime of your stretches. If you are able to stick to the schedule and process, then you will fair very good till the end. I am thankful to Dr. Betz and his team and physiotherapist Peter Woll for the guidance. So far, I am satisfied with the journey and I am looking forward to the consolidation and my recovery.

Well done, mate. I am very supportive of your thinking and completely agree on the proportions. In my opinion it would be a bad idea to lengthen 9 or even 10 and fall even further below 73% t/f wise. I know that Peter Woll is also an advocate of conservative lengthening, putting function & health over excessive lengthening, and he's an absolute expert.

In any case, 8cm is huge and I congratulate you