Permanent knee pain, is LATN/LON really worth it?

Hey guys,

Just wondering if LATN/LON is really worth lengthening with?

Especially if the risk of permanent knee pain is 30-50%.

From what I have read on this forum, people risk permanent knee pain regardless of how much they have lengthened.

Isn't it a better option to rather do pure external fixation and having the fixator on for several more months and not risking permanent knee pain?

Guys who have lengthened via LON/LATN, please share whether your having knee pain and whether the pain is sharp or subtle?

A lot fewer people would have done LON/LATN if they knew about the risk of permanent knee pain. Although I vaguely remember a study that was posted by someone (Stadiometer?) on the old forum which said permanent muscle damage happens when you wear a fixator for longer than a certain period of time. I forgot how long the duration was according to the study, IIRC it was 3 or 4 months.

Curse this foggy memory of mine.

Edit: I just remembered Dr Birkholtz posted that long frame times don't necessarily equate to permanent muscle damage, so this makes it a little more hard to say concretely.

Hey Kilokahn,

Thanks for the reply.

Sorry but what I am asking is the risk of permanent knee pain from the insertion of the internal rod into the tibia and not the duration of the external fixator.

Wouldn't it be better if a person wears the fixator for several more months then inserting a rod merely for the comfort and risk permanent knee damage?

Quote from: TheRisingShorty on February 18, 2014, 12:11:55 PMHey Kilokahn,

Thanks for the reply.

Sorry but what I am asking is the risk of permanent knee pain from the insertion of the internal rod into the tibia and not the duration of the external fixator.

Wouldn't it be better if a person wears the fixator for several more months then inserting a rod merely for the comfort and risk permanent knee damage?

I meant to say that there is the possibility you'd have to decide which bothers you more, risk of permanent knee pain with LON/LATN or risk of permanent muscle damage with external only for the same amount of lengthening, which is of course if ex only does truly lead to permanent muscle damage. If you can get permanent muscle damage from ex only, maybe the knee pain without the muscle damage is a better deal?

Would precise 2 in tibia also have a possibility of leading to permanent knee pain?

Personally, nothing is worth if I have permanent pain anywhere.
To each his own I suppose.

Quote from: theuprising on February 19, 2014, 01:06:59 AMWould precise 2 in tibia also have a possibility of leading to permanent knee pain?

Seems like anything internal would make permanent knee pain a possibility since they'd have to split the patellar tendon to put it inside.

Yes, it really worth it.

Unfortunately, I only have myself to make this claim and so far I don't have any pain or issue... except for some annoyances which I have mentioned in my diary.

If anyone want to see, I could again... make a video of a death-lift or whatever lift that is at the gym... haha, I don't want to sound like a dckk and be hated but it's true. I don't know where all the pain are coming from.

actually, I do feel a loss of sensation on my right leg when I cross my leg over for too long.

I've been thinking recently about LON.  One of the advantages of LON/LATN is that they can correct the angle of your feet in the 2nd surgery when the fixators are removed and the nails are locked.  This isn't possible with all-internal or all-external methods.

I was duck-footed (A) going into the surgery, and throughout the lengthening process my feet moved inward, slightly correcting the duck-footedness.  This inward movement happened to almost everyone at the clinic: their feet twisted inward, turning them pidgeon-toed (B) if they started with a normal foot angle.  Everyone got a 100% correction during the 2nd surgery though, leaving our feet anatomically perfect.