Quote from: dontgototurkey on August 12, 2023, 12:44:12 AMThere’s these screws used in tibia lengthening called syndesmotic screws that hold the tibia and fibula together at your ankle when lengthening. The screws need to be left in place during the recovery process, ideally until nail removal a year later, or the tibia and fibula move apart and create what’s called a tibiofibular subluxation, a type of dislocation.
It’s very subtle in the early stages, when the doctor pointed it out on the X-ray I didn’t even see it at first. There wasn’t really any significant pain either, so it was very much a surprise.
It’s the kind of thing that in the early stages is not noticeable. You could come home from lengthening, feel fine, start to walk again, go back to normal life etc.
But eventually the bones will gradually move further apart, destabilizing the ankle more and more. When there is a subluxation of the tibia and fibula, even if it’s microscopic, like only a few millimeters between each bone, the ankle is not anatomically stable.
If you were to ignore it completely, eventually your ankle would completely stop working. The ligaments, tendons and nerves would be pulled in unnatural ways, well beyond their design. Chronic inflammation from the subluxation eventually causes swelling of the joint, increased fluid in the joints, cartilage damage, bone damage, muscle atrophy. Because the main ankle “joint” where the tibia and fibula connect becomes too loose and everything is stretched, stressed, and eventually torn.
The reconstructive surgery is a lot like an ankle fracture repair. They basically replace the syndesmotic screws that Halil took out prematurely. There’s pictures of the repair in my first post.
The surgery is pretty simple as far as ankle surgeries go, but the recovery process is long. No weight bearing for six weeks and then it takes at least six months to stop hurting and feel normal. I opted to do one ankle at a time so I could weight bear on one leg and not be wheelchair bound.
My left ankle is good now but my right is taking longer because the hardware put in is more extensive because he had to also correct the valgus deformity in the tibia created by Halil. So instead of just a few screws like the left ankle, there’s a huge metal plate and a bunch of small screws going directly into the lateral malleolus. It’s been almost five months since the right ankle surgery and I’m still on crutches. Technically I can “fully weight bear” but it doesn’t mean I can really walk. Everything is too swollen and tender still. I hope by Christmas I’ll be off then for good and back to my life.
He’s such an incompetent sick bastard. I’m lucky I didn’t get osteomyelitis like a lot of LLT patients but even small complications like mine can wreck your life for a year or more.
STAY AWAY FROM LIVE LIFE TALLER
i have some questions
ive never seen any lon tibia patients having their fibula screwed in after the removal of the frame, and ive seen hundreds of xrays, as far as i have always understood is that only during the lengthening when a pulling motion is applied you need to have the fibula fixed but after the frame removal everything settles and they dont need to affix it
are you saying that 100% of all lon tibia patients who have had their frames removed have suffered/are suffering from this fibular subluxation?
im one year post frame removal and i dont notice any particular instability and after the frame removal my fibula wasn't screwed in anymore
second question: you say that if this is left to be long term complication the ankle will stop working? how is this possible? i think the body isnt that straightforward and the pulling of the tissues at that location would just make it adapt to the new position of the bones albeit with lowered athletic potential(which is a known trade off)
thoughts?