Update, just under 4cm (3.8cm). I've been doing 15 clicks for sometime now (0.78mm per day)
Excited to hit 4-5cm.
Everything is going well. No duckass or widelegs. My muscles are quite tight but i bought a foam roller and a massage gun, which are great investments, i'd recommend. I am going to the gym everyday and walking in the pool every 2nd day. I am only going to physio once a week as i didnt think it was super helpful, he just gives me a massage, but ill maybe look to increase this to 2 days a week.
My sleep is decent but i still get up 3-4 times per night and have to roll around. That being said, im sleeping from about 9.30pm to 5.30am most days so probably like 7-8 hours after you take into account getting up etc, but its not deep sleep either.
Taking a lot of baths during the day and working in there, i am still working 8 hours or more per day, but i just rotate positions like standing up, stretching, sitting down, bathtub, outside etc.
My IT band is tight but not as as tight as before, just get random aches, stiffness and pains throughout the day but its bearable.
I will get my first xray since coming back next week.
Clicking in my left leg is an absolute dream. Its so easy now, i get it done in literally ten minutes or less and it almost feels good to do. So happy with that leg.
My only issue, which seems to have arisen in the last 2-3 days is that my right quad seems to have become very tight. So that means when i start twisting my leg for the clicking, i get to a tension point in my quad that feels like pain and then i stop. It's kind of middle/lower quad and adductor, its not super painful i just am scared of pushing through pain and tear the muscle so i stop at the point, massage my quad in the pain area until the tension releases, then i can keep doing this until its 'warmed up'. Its not crazy difficult or painful (like 3/10) but it just takes a long time to do because i have to warm up for much much longer (by comparison i barely need to warm up my left) and clicking on my right has a lot more resistance, like i need way more physical exertion to twist my leg and any discomfort/time cost from that.
Today it took me about 45 mins to an hour on my right leg including warmup. My left leg took 10 mins. I'm fairly certain the issue is a tight quadricep as the clicking gets easier after massaging the quad whilst rotating.
I need you guys' help with this:
- Is this a common problem?
- What do you think is causing it? Is it just the muscle reaching its limit and just needs to 'break through'?
- Is it something that will probably go away soon as I either stretch the muscle more or the nail lengthens and gets easier?
- Do you have any tips for addressing it, e.g. using massage gun whilst clicking, getting a thai massage on the quad, loads of stretching, reducing clicks temporarily etc.
- Should i be doing more strength training (leg ext/leg press/bike) or should i be giving my muscles a rest instead? As i am doing them but lightly (bike 20 mins everyday, leg workout if i have time every 2-3 days before or after clicking)
I read in someones journal, i forgot who, a similar issue (i think) and it went away as the nail got longer. I think they said its almost like the muscle gets tight from resisting to protect itself, but after a certain length it just kind of gives up and lets you lengthen it. Actually i think i read it in Ozboy diary too that the nurse said this happens around 4cm which is where i am approximately.
Experienced Betz / gnail patients - i would love your input!
@rb / @stretchalot / @ozboy etc.
Aside from the current right quad, very happy with how everything is going.
Growth.Journey - Femur lengthening w Betz - Sep 2022
I'm pretty sure you might have read it from mine
Congrats on getting to 4cm. It's all downhill from here (until you hit 6 lol).
I remember the Pat lady told me that around 3 or 4ncm is where you loose all the slack you had in your muscles and reach the maximum tension within them. The muscle and the body try to react to it making it tighter and therefore causing you discomfort and pain.
But then you keep pushing through (maybe slow down a notch whilst you increase stretching) and then yes I agree, things get looser. Can't remember exactly when but I do remember what be helped me a LOT.nasically I changed the way I use to do stretching.
I've always followed the same approach our PT had which is basically fast and hard (to the point of screaming).
I instead started doing long.... Long stretches but at just a point of mild mild discomfort. I felt this helped me get my muscle back to a "normal" tightness level.
See if it works, hold the usual quad, hams, hips stretches for like 3-4-5 minutes at a time.... See what happens after a couple of days.
Also, another thing PT always told us (and I disagree now very strongly) was to NOT do strengthening excercises or any excercises on the legs at all. Just walking with crutches.
Their fear is that a "strong" muscles will get tighter and make things harder later.on (clicks, stretching.....).
Whilst I understand where they are coming from I also believe that that caused myself immense knee pain which I only resolved recently here in Australia when I started doing let presses.
So yeah.. I'm sure everything in this process is a big balancing act, but it's also good to see we're all progressing towards our goal (BTW, at the gym I go to here I'm not the shortest anymore... By a good amount. I'm bloody stoked as I still have 3cm to gain)
Good luck and let us know how U go
Thanks OZboy - great advice as usual! I will try the five minute stretching too and hopefully that helps my right quad , fingers crossed it naturally loosens up soon too.
That feeling of being taller is amazing isn’t it, you probabyl have had more of these moments given you’re 2cm ahead. I am taller but I also changed my shoes to be flatter than before so I feel the same haha.
Ps your Pt seems to be giving some dodgy advice! Is the one overseas?
Quote from: Growth.journey on November 04, 2022, 05:21:49 AMUpdate, just under 4cm (3.8cm). I've been doing 15 clicks for sometime now (0.78mm per day)
Excited to hit 4-5cm.
Everything is going well. No duckass or widelegs. My muscles are quite tight but i bought a foam roller and a massage gun, which are great investments, i'd recommend. I am going to the gym everyday and walking in the pool every 2nd day. I am only going to physio once a week as i didnt think it was super helpful, he just gives me a massage, but ill maybe look to increase this to 2 days a week.
My sleep is decent but i still get up 3-4 times per night and have to roll around. That being said, im sleeping from about 9.30pm to 5.30am most days so probably like 7-8 hours after you take into account getting up etc, but its not deep sleep either.
Taking a lot of baths during the day and working in there, i am still working 8 hours or more per day, but i just rotate positions like standing up, stretching, sitting down, bathtub, outside etc.
My IT band is tight but not as as tight as before, just get random aches, stiffness and pains throughout the day but its bearable.
I will get my first xray since coming back next week.
Clicking in my left leg is an absolute dream. Its so easy now, i get it done in literally ten minutes or less and it almost feels good to do. So happy with that leg.
My only issue, which seems to have arisen in the last 2-3 days is that my right quad seems to have become very tight. So that means when i start twisting my leg for the clicking, i get to a tension point in my quad that feels like pain and then i stop. It's kind of middle/lower quad and adductor, its not super painful i just am scared of pushing through pain and tear the muscle so i stop at the point, massage my quad in the pain area until the tension releases, then i can keep doing this until its 'warmed up'. Its not crazy difficult or painful (like 3/10) but it just takes a long time to do because i have to warm up for much much longer (by comparison i barely need to warm up my left) and clicking on my right has a lot more resistance, like i need way more physical exertion to twist my leg and any discomfort/time cost from that.
Today it took me about 45 mins to an hour on my right leg including warmup. My left leg took 10 mins. I'm fairly certain the issue is a tight quadricep as the clicking gets easier after massaging the quad whilst rotating.
I need you guys' help with this:
- Is this a common problem?
- What do you think is causing it? Is it just the muscle reaching its limit and just needs to 'break through'?
- Is it something that will probably go away soon as I either stretch the muscle more or the nail lengthens and gets easier?
- Do you have any tips for addressing it, e.g. using massage gun whilst clicking, getting a thai massage on the quad, loads of stretching, reducing clicks temporarily etc.
- Should i be doing more strength training (leg ext/leg press/bike) or should i be giving my muscles a rest instead? As i am doing them but lightly (bike 20 mins everyday, leg workout if i have time every 2-3 days before or after clicking)
I read in someones journal, i forgot who, a similar issue (i think) and it went away as the nail got longer. I think they said its almost like the muscle gets tight from resisting to protect itself, but after a certain length it just kind of gives up and lets you lengthen it. Actually i think i read it in Ozboy diary too that the nurse said this happens around 4cm which is where i am approximately.
Experienced Betz / gnail patients - i would love your input!
@rb / @stretchalot / @ozboy etc.
Aside from the current right quad, very happy with how everything is going.
Do I understand correctly that it is very tight to do the actual click? So tight that you need 45 minutes to complete clicking on your right leg? If so what helped me when this was the case, I always "stretched" the first click on each leg. What I mean is that doing the first click I would hold my leg in that rotated position and stretch past that first click and hold it there for around a minute. I did this a lot during the clicking phase and for me at least it did help. If you read my diary because of this technique I was able to click both legs in a few minutes throughout the whole process. I would also recommend if this does not improve clicking at a lower rate each day. I would sometimes do these so my body could "catch up" and then clicking became much easier. It was only when I reached almost 11cm that clicking started to get hard.
Quote from: Growth.journey on November 04, 2022, 11:34:40 PMThanks OZboy - great advice as usual! I will try the five minute stretching too and hopefully that helps my right quad , fingers crossed it naturally loosens up soon too.
That feeling of being taller is amazing isn’t it, you probabyl have had more of these moments given you’re 2cm ahead. I am taller but I also changed my shoes to be flatter than before so I feel the same haha.
Ps your Pt seems to be giving some dodgy advice! Is the one overseas?
No problems at all.
Yeah this is like PT we used to have in Athens. Honestly I don't understand their point, I feel so much more "mobile" now although yes I can feel the clicks are harder (not painful though).
I guess perhaps both approaches are right,..but I hate the feeling of not being able to stand from a chair. So I'll keep doing light strengthening excercises until the end
Quote from: Stand taller on November 05, 2022, 12:04:37 AMDo I understand correctly that it is very tight to do the actual click? So tight that you need 45 minutes to complete clicking on your right leg? If so what helped me when this was the case, I always "stretched" the first click on each leg. What I mean is that doing the first click I would hold my leg in that rotated position and stretch past that first click and hold it there for around a minute. I did this a lot during the clicking phase and for me at least it did help. If you read my diary because of this technique I was able to click both legs in a few minutes throughout the whole process. I would also recommend if this does not improve clicking at a lower rate each day. I would sometimes do these so my body could "catch up" and then clicking became much easier. It was only when I reached almost 11cm that clicking started to get hard.
Hi Standtaller. Yes that is correct, it is caused by quad tightness in right leg. This is a great tip / idea , though I didn’t see this in your diary. I just re read it now and couldn’t find it. But I am going to try it today for clicks and let you know how I go! I can see how that makes sense though
Edit: tried it this morning and it was actually an amazing tip. A few questions:
1. Did you do this on every click or just the first few?
2. Did you just hold it at the point it clicks? Or did you try and stretch the angle even further?
Got my first X-ray since being back home. 6 weeks xray at 4.2cm. Can people please let me know if the growth is good? I cannot tell and I don’t think betz will reply lol. I sent it to him on WhatsApp but not expecting much.
Quote from: Growth.journey on November 08, 2022, 04:31:20 AMGot my first X-ray since being back home. 6 weeks xray at 4.2cm. Can people please let me know if the growth is good? I cannot tell and I don’t think betz will reply lol. I sent it to him on WhatsApp but not expecting much.
not bad
Showed Daniela who showed Becker.
Response was everything is perfect.
I also asked about the increased resistance I’ve found recently when clicking, is that because of muscle tightness or possible bone growth. Becker said if I am still getting resistance to increase clicking to 20 for 3 days, I suppose to increase the distance of the gap. Today I did 17 clicks and may increase to 20 tomorrow to see how it goes but damn even an increase of 2 today makes such a big difference, I’m so tight today!
Side note: I haven’t noticed the height difference that much, probably because I’ve thrown away my old thick shoes and bought new sleeker shoes which mostly offsets if not all of the height increase and then some. So I think I’m about the same but I look so much better with longer legs and sleeker shoe profile. I used to hate the way my thick shoes looked, like clown shoes! So it’s only upside from here and I look good 
. The other side note is that my pants fit me much better. I used to hate the way my jeans / track pants bunched up and made me look shorter. Now they stretch long and make my legs look long. Love it.
Quote from: Growth.journey on November 09, 2022, 05:06:31 AM
Side note: I haven’t noticed the height difference that much, probably because I’ve thrown away my old thick shoes and bought new sleeker shoes which mostly offsets if not all of the height increase and then some. So I think I’m about the same but I look so much better with longer legs and sleeker shoe profile. I used to hate the way my thick shoes looked, like clown shoes! So it’s only upside from here and I look good . The other side note is that my pants fit me much better. I used to hate the way my jeans / track pants bunched up and made me look shorter. Now they stretch long and make my legs look long. Love it.
Love the comments on the pants. I now have a very similar problem where pretty much ALL pants that I had shortened in the past.... Gotta go into the bin.
And I'm not even sorry!!! 
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