I was a tibia-lengthening patient at the Beijing Institute of External Fixation for five months in 2007. I went back and had my internal nails removed in late 2008. I'm done with LL but wanted to come back and share my knowledge with current and future LLers.
I'm currently working on a diary about my LL experience called "Fear and Lengthening in Beijing" that you can find in the Diaries section. But if you have any questions, go ahead and ask them here. Unlike the people on that old forum, I'm happy to answer anything here even if it's been mentioned in my diary, just in case you don't feel like reading the whole thing.
More about me:
Race/sex: White, Male
My age when I had LL: 25
Starting height and weight: 5'7" 138 lbs.
Current height and weight: 5"10" 138 lbs.
Have questions you'd like to ask someone who had LL six years ago? Ask them here
How long did it take until you could run, not walk, down stairs?
Can you sprint?(like Usain Bolt on 100 meters, but not equal fast...)
Do you feel any strain or tightness in any part of your body?
Would you dare to jump down from 1-2 meters up?
Question I have is, you are 3 inches taller but weigh the same? I would imagine you would weigh a little more right?
1. What is your wingspan?
2. What do you think of your proportions? Have your thoughts changed over time?
3. Any regrets?
Very nice of you to be available to us. Thank you.
Quote from: Sweden on October 17, 2013, 12:52:01 AMHow long did it take until you could run, not walk, down stairs?
Can you sprint?(like Usain Bolt on 100 meters, but not equal fast...)
Do you feel any strain or tightness in any part of your body?
Would you dare to jump down from 1-2 meters up?
I could run down stairs and sprint as soon as I'd healed up from the IM nail removal surgery. I was really careful with my legs while the nails were in, so I never tried doing either of those things until they were removed. I used a leg press machine at a gym and ran short distances but that was the most I did while I had the IM nails. I think most IM nail issues are caused by slow bone consolidation and/or too much physical activity.
When I squat, I feel some pressure in my knees. The knees are also sensitive when I kneel on hard surfaces. They're also a little stiff but they do have a full range of motion; if they were made of metal I'd think they were a tiny bit rusty. This stiffness goes away if I do kickboxing exercises but comes back in a few hours. I think all of these knee issues could've been avoided by doing external-only. Cutting open the knees twice, once to put the IM nails in and then again to pull them back out was a lot of knee surgery. I'm fine with my 5'10 height, but if I wasn't I still might not do femurs due to fear of developing hip issues similar to what's happening in my knees.
I don't have any ankle or foot issues. My hamstring flexibility is as good as it was before LL, but my quadriceps flexibility is a little bit worse (just a tiny bit) but I have no idea why.
I would jump down from one meter, sure. I've done that quite a few times. I'd jump down two meters if I had to and I doubt my legs would break like Sid Eudy's (Google "Sid Vicious WCW leg break" if you're not squeamish). I'd be mostly worried about what would happen to my knees from that two meter drop. The tibiae themselves are really solid.
Quote from: TomD on October 17, 2013, 01:13:01 AMQuestion I have is, you are 3 inches taller but weigh the same? I would imagine you would weigh a little more right?
When I got out of the hospital I weighed about 130. Almost everyone there lost weight; some people lost significantly more than my 8 pounds. I weighed as much as 160 a year ago but I was eating a lot and not exercising very often. Now I'm eating less and exercising more than ever. But yeah, it's surprising how little 6 inches of human leg (3" on each side) actually weighs.
Quote from: LiveLife on October 17, 2013, 01:21:11 AM1. What is your wingspan?
2. What do you think of your proportions? Have your thoughts changed over time?
3. Any regrets?
Very nice of you to be available to us. Thank you.
1. 5'10" so it's equal to my height now.
2. I think my proportions are fine. Nobody's ever mentioned anything about my legs looking strange.
3. I regret not being able to be happy with myself when I was 5'7". Lots of people shorter than that manage to be happy. Why couldn't I? Also I regret having the IM nails put in for the reasons explained above, although I can't be 100% certain I wouldn't be having those issues if I'd done external-only.
I can relate to the knee issues and I'm afraid to take out the nail in India. I hope I can do that here in Sweden. The fact that you don't feel anything when you're doing kickboxing is bc you have such greater blood flow in your knees.
I'm still going to do my femurs. The great issue there is that EVERYONE will get it and I'm passing my wingspan with 6cm. But my shins are too long with +7cm. I don't recommend doing more than 5cm - for several reasons.
I am 180cm now but I still feel short. ALL of my friends are either equal or taller.
Your issues on your knees in my opnion aren't because you opened your knee two times. For me it is because you did 3 inches on tibias, what makes your knee work harder. 7.5 cm on tibias is almost the same of doing 10 on femurs. This problem on your knees would be reduced if you did some cm on your femur to balance. I had titanium inside my femurs after lengthening with internals and i removed them, so I had to open my hips 4 times, and I actually don't feel anything on it. I think this issue you said has more to do with the amount you lengthen. For me ideal is 5 cm on tibias or 7 cm on femurs or both. However, I am sure you can "survive" very well with this knee issues.
Quote from: Sweden on October 17, 2013, 06:52:31 AMI can relate to the knee issues and I'm afraid to take out the nail in India. I hope I can do that here in Sweden. The fact that you don't feel anything when you're doing kickboxing is bc you have such greater blood flow in your knees.
I'm still going to do my femurs. The great issue there is that EVERYONE will get it and I'm passing my wingspan with 6cm. But my shins are too long with +7cm. I don't recommend doing more than 5cm - for several reasons.
I am 180cm now but I still feel short. ALL of my friends are either equal or taller.
Hehe yeah, I can relate to still feeling short at 5'10 in some countries. I went to the Netherlands and it seemed like almost all the men were taller than me. Even when I thought I saw a short guy from far away, he ended up being about my height when he got closer.
Quote from: somecm on October 17, 2013, 12:44:26 PMYour issues on your knees in my opnion aren't because you opened your knee two times. For me it is because you did 3 inches on tibias, what makes your knee work harder. 7.5 cm on tibias is almost the same of doing 10 on femurs. This problem on your knees would be reduced if you did some cm on your femur to balance. I had titanium inside my femurs after lengthening with internals and i removed them, so I had to open my hips 4 times, and I actually don't feel anything on it. I think this issue you said has more to do with the amount you lengthen. For me ideal is 5 cm on tibias or 7 cm on femurs or both. However, I am sure you can "survive" very well with this knee issues.
I was having knee stiffness/inflammation problems almost the entire time I was in Beijing, so I don't think it was caused by too much lengthening. I was at less than 2cm when these problems started. Some other patients told me I should just stop lengthening, but I didn't listen to them. The problems were a few inches above where the lengthening was taking place, and I wasn't going to spend $25000 and not get my height.
I think my joints/tendons are just more sensitive than average.
Nobody should read this discussion and decide not to get IM nails, and nobody should read this discussion and decide to get 5cm if they really wanted 7.5. Each LL case is unique, so your results can and will vary.
What was the feeling in your legs like doing leg workouts on the weight machines while the rods were inside?
I barely felt the IM nails at all on the machine. I was surprised at how quickly I was able to regain the strength in my legs. It only took a few months before I was leg pressing at my pre-LL level. Those IM nails can support a lot of weight if you're doing something smoothly and with correct form; it was forceful/jarring impacts that caused me to feel like there was some foreign object in my leg.
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