I did 8.0 cm LATN on tibias in 2016......AM(a)A : Ask Me (almost) Anything

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Thanks for the diary.
+1 for pictures

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Doing LL at your current height is insane and it will cause you only problems.
Even your proportions won't look better as your feet would look insanely tall, especially if you lengthen more than 3-4cm in femurs as you said.
And of course it doesn't worth the plenty of money you'll spend as for femurs the only real way of LL is pure internals.

So think more wisely and don't risk for nothing.
Good luck with your consolidation!

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Pic at 184 cm:

https://imgur.com/a/QW4eW

I think I look proportional from this angle, but I'm not sure. My shorts end right in between my femurs and tibias on the knees

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Quote from: Sibirsky on June 18, 2017, 06:49:26 PMPic at 184 cm:

https://imgur.com/a/QW4eW

I think I look proportional from this angle, but I'm not sure. My shorts end right in between my femurs and tibias on the knees
From my sight,you look proportional

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How do you feel right now compared  to your pre-op conditions?

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Quote from: YungGud on June 20, 2017, 01:24:09 PMHow do you feel right now compared  to your pre-op conditions?

I feel great actually. I no longer get Morning stiffness on my ankles at all. My ankle muscles are about the same size as they were pre op but quads need a lot of work

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Quote from: Sibirsky on June 26, 2017, 12:16:05 PMI feel great actually. I no longer get Morning stiffness on my ankles at all. My ankle muscles are about the same size as they were pre op but quads need a lot of work
That's great!congratulations
I was just scared if ur never gonna be the same as preLL conditions like crippled till the rest of your life but your experience show as that everything depends

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"it really that risky to target 8cm?"
Unlike most members here who feel the safe limit is a fixed number of cm i.e. 5cm, 6cm, my thoughts based on medical studies and consulting with orthopaedics are that the safe limit is defined by percentages. In short, less than 10% increase lengthening of an initial bone length is low risk, 10-20% is medium risk (minor complications like contractures, small ballerina) and more than 20% is high risk (severe ballerina, non-union). And in general, you risk screwing up proportions going over 20%

So for example, a person with an initial 40 cm tibia length can go up to 8 cm and be in the medium risk category (which is what I did. And since on average tibias are 0.8 of the length of femurs, one can safely assume you can push femur lengthening further

"I read your diary and it's quite amazing"
Thank you! I do try to keep it as interesting, consise yet informative as possible
"it seems to me that you spent very minimal time on everything (lengthening, consolidating and walking normally) and I'm still wondering how you accomplished all that with a really short time but good job on you brother!"
Thanks! Honestly, neither do I. My orthopaedic surgeon specialised in leg correction but not cosmetic limb lengthening. He allowed me to go up to 2.0 mm a day which was undoubtedly unsafe, but hey everything turned out fine.

However, going up to 2.0 mm a day is actually done but not for very long periods. Consolidation tends to be poor if lengthening is done this fast. But since I went for LATN and not externals, this is less of a problem

"my question since you did LATN is can you work out with weights while still having nails inside your legs?"
Yes. You need to have an orthopaedic surgeon in your home country with whom you can do X-Rays and consult with in order to determine to what degree your bones can handle weight bearing.

However, one must come to realise the intramedullary nail is not the same as internal lengthening rods. The former has been perfected over decades of development and is geared solely to provide support and allow early weight bearing not just for LATN but for many other non-cosmetic treatment like fractures. The latter is still relatively new technology and has to accommodate lengthening capabilities and support. Hence, the support capabilities of nails used in LATN is much better than that of internal lengthening nails. That's why weight bearing and walking, in some cases, can be achieved much faster in LATN than internal lengthening.


"I believe you also want to bulk up your legs as you said in your diary because I'm sure it's really skinny after LL, how soon can you do it? and isnt it dangerous?"
Again, that's why you need to keep seeing an orthopaedist in your home country to give you a definitive and medically-sound green light on what you can do and what you shouldn't. This and of course physiotherapy. In my case, immediately after nailing I was allowed todo leg presses and after I could walk( 2-months post nailing) pretty much I'm allowed anything even running except contact sports

It's a long journey, but I wish you then best in your future endeavours!

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Sibirsky have you got any xrays?

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Sibirsky,

I have read it, thanks for your answers!