Femur lengthening with Dr. Betz - 2021

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Wow walk looks very good. Keep it up!

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Wow walk looks very good. Keep it up!

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Quote from: chasing_higher_dream on June 23, 2021, 12:44:41 PMHere is a video of my walking gait at 2 cm of lengthening: https://imgur.com/a/9G7OEin

wow you walk pretty good for a person who had a surgery. i guess your pre operation preparations really helped alot

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Quote from: chasing_higher_dream on June 23, 2021, 12:44:41 PMHere is a video of my walking gait at 2 cm of lengthening: https://imgur.com/a/9G7OEin

wow you walk pretty good for a person who had a surgery. i guess your pre operation preparations really helped alot

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Looks fantastic! Well done.

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@ FSchez: Thanks for the great advice. I will definitely keep a note on the muscle strength of my legs and try to incorporate some strength-building exercises too

@ justme11: Pain is very much subjective. Different people have different levels of the pain experience. Me having less pain does not guarantee that you too would have less pain (though I hope you too would have a pain-free experience). Overall, I can say the pain management at Dr. Betz is awesome.

@ RB: Thanks. Your diary has been quite helpful to my journey so far.

@ cam007: Yes, being a good shape pre-surgery definitely helps. Also, for me, starting stretching early on did help to improve my overall flexibility and also to be aware of the various muscle groups and the feeling you get when you stretch them. In this way, after the surgery, you are already educated on the various stretches and the muscle groups to focus on.

@ Zatoichi: Thanks, well wishes to your distraction phase too.

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36 days post-surgery --- 3.05 cm lengthened

Video of my walk at 3 cm: https://imgur.com/a/lYk3z1a

Function
I think my function is still pretty good. I can bend my knees completely and let them touch my butt. I have managed to reduce my wide legs by intensifying the IT band stretches. There is still no sign of duck ass. I sent a video of my walk to Dr. Betz on Whatsapp and he seems to be happy with my progress so far, he said my walking gait looks good. Overall, I am happy with how things are progressing so far. Nonetheless, it's very hard to keep with the existing level of function and doing 3 sessions per day of physiotherapy (1 hour per session). It requires a lot of discipline and a good work ethic. Since I also work full time from home, almost 8 hours a day, hence sometimes I struggle to keep up with this insane schedule. Though I am giving my best!
Also, I have reduced the professional physiotherapy to 2 times a week, since I have gained confidence in the stretches I do by myself at home.

Clicking
I have reduced the number of clicks per day to 15 (0.78 mm) after reaching 2 cm.
Also, I am now again able to click by myself on both legs. Clicking is also very easy now and the pain is almost none. Though just after clicking, I can feel my muscles get stiff. I need to walk and stretch to again loosen up my muscles.

Pain
After 2.8 cm, I started to feel random fluctuating pain (3 out of 10) in front of the left shin bone area, sometimes around the left knee, sometimes on the right hamstring, the place of origin of pain varies. The pain usually comes when I walk and do some kind of movement, and when I am fatigued and tired. I have bought a Theragun (it's a kind of massage gun) and have been massaging the pain areas and it has definitely alleviated the pain so far. Let's see for how long this solution works.
Still, I did not have any continuous nerve pain.
Also, I am still taking my pain medications, since I am afraid that the pain may increase if I stop them completely.

Sleep
Sleep has been progressively getting better. I have been able to sleep 4-5 hours on a daily basis. No complaints on this side.

Misc
I am able to start noticing the 3 cm increase in height on day to day basis. I have met a couple of my friends and I can definitely feel the difference in terms of eye contact level. This is kind of motivating

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Quote from: chasing_higher_dream on July 06, 2021, 05:36:14 PM36 days post-surgery --- 3.05 cm lengthened

Video of my walk at 3 cm: https://imgur.com/a/lYk3z1a

Function
I think my function is still pretty good. I can bend my knees completely and let them touch my butt. I have managed to reduce my wide legs by intensifying the IT band stretches. There is still no sign of duck ass. I sent a video of my walk to Dr. Betz on Whatsapp and he seems to be happy with my progress so far, he said my walking gait looks good. Overall, I am happy with how things are progressing so far. Nonetheless, it's very hard to keep with the existing level of function and doing 3 sessions per day of physiotherapy (1 hour per session). It requires a lot of discipline and a good work ethic. Since I also work full time from home, almost 8 hours a day, hence sometimes I struggle to keep up with this insane schedule. Though I am giving my best!
Also, I have reduced the professional physiotherapy to 2 times a week, since I have gained confidence in the stretches I do by myself at home.

Clicking
I have reduced the number of clicks per day to 15 (0.78 mm) after reaching 2 cm.
Also, I am now again able to click by myself on both legs. Clicking is also very easy now and the pain is almost none. Though just after clicking, I can feel my muscles get stiff. I need to walk and stretch to again loosen up my muscles.

Pain
After 2.8 cm, I started to feel random fluctuating pain (3 out of 10) in front of the left shin bone area, sometimes around the left knee, sometimes on the right hamstring, the place of origin of pain varies. The pain usually comes when I walk and do some kind of movement, and when I am fatigued and tired. I have bought a Theragun (it's a kind of massage gun) and have been massaging the pain areas and it has definitely alleviated the pain so far. Let's see for how long this solution works.
Still, I did not have any continuous nerve pain.
Also, I am still taking my pain medications, since I am afraid that the pain may increase if I stop them completely.

Sleep
Sleep has been progressively getting better. I have been able to sleep 4-5 hours on a daily basis. No complaints on this side.

Misc
I am able to start noticing the 3 cm increase in height on day to day basis. I have met a couple of my friends and I can definitely feel the difference in terms of eye contact level. This is kind of motivating

Being able to keep your legs together until 3CM is a great achievement. Shows the work you have put in. 4-5 CM was a revealing period for me, as that's when my wide legs just blew up. I probably used up any reserved flexibility at that point.

Duckass and wide legs are 2 symptoms of the same issue -- tight IT Bands. You can choose to keep upright, with wider legs, or lean forward (butt back) to get narrower legs. People can choose to report either, but they reflect the same problem.

4-5 hours of sleep as well as sporadic nerve pain is common to everyone during lengthening. Working 8 hours a day is what's making you a hero. I can only work 4.

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@SirStretchAlot: Thanks for the insight. I will definitely monitor myself more carefully as I am approaching that 4-5 cm mark.

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49 days post-surgery --- 4.06 cm lengthened

Video of my walk at 4 cm: https://imgur.com/a/l5AYo8N

Function
My function is still very good. I can keep my legs closed, fold my knees completely and walk with a decent gait. After 3 cm, I intensified my IT band stretches. As a result, my IT bands do not feel tensed anymore and they have stretched very well till now. Though I have some increasing stiffness in the upper part of my quads. I am working on it. I also had a consultation with Peter at around 3.5 cm. He gave me some good advices to resolve the issues I am suffering from.

Clicking
I am still clicking at 15 clicks per day (0.78 mm). For now, this rate is perfect and I feel comfortable while lengthening.

Pain
The random pains I mentioned in the last post have gone. Luckily, I do not feel any pain right now. I am still taking my pain medications.

Sleep
Sleep also has got better. I now consistently sleep for around 6-7 hours per day (this may be due to the absence of any pain).

Misc
I will be doing X-rays of my femurs this week. I am excited to see the progress. I will post the X-rays once they are available.
Overall, I can say, I feel good and I am happy that I have roughly crossed half of the lengthening goal.