Precice 2.2 Recovery Time

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Since Sdryde is no longer available, I am considering doing Precice 2.2. I understand that Precice 2.2 does not have a good weight bearing capability and will need longer recovery time. So my questions are:

For Femur only 8cm:

1. Do I need to be on wheelchair at all times during lengthening period? Is there any way to speed up the recovery?
2. After lengthening period, when can I start to walk again without any assistance?
3. If I do the surgery in March, is it possible to resume back to normal walking activities by August? I strongly prefer get this over with by the end of the pandemic so I can return back to the society this summer / fall.
4. Can I do non-leg-related sports during lengthening period? (upper body gym workout, etc.)

Male, 20s, 150lbs, no preexisting conditions, assume no complications.

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If I start the surgery in March, the lengthening period should end by June. If my company asks me to travel again in August & September, do you think I will have ample time to consolidate and resume walking? Probably will do tons of recovery workout and eat lots of food to speed it up.

In addition, as a 150lbs male, if I have the chance to get the largest nail (12.5, fatigue load is 146 lbs), I should be able to "barely walk" immediately after the lengthening period?

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Well I called them and they said that young people tend to recover much faster than average and I have a "good chance" for fast recovery as long as I keep up the PT exercises......lots of conflicting information.

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Chatted with Paley and his staff. If everything goes well, I should be able to walk close to normally by August. However, it largely depends on exercises and physical therapy. Lack of exercises and stretching will significantly delay the process of healing.

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My guess is that with Precice 2 people tend to do less moving exercises because it's not weight bearing ---> soft tissues normalize must slower -----> still can't walk even after bones are consolidated -----> can't walk normally until soft tissues are back. I was also told that soft tissues are the ones typically cause trouble during the healing process. I'm not sure the differences between Precice 2 and Stryde in terms of bone healing speed, as I haven't seen any research article with direct comparison statistical analysis about it.

I'm quite optimistic that given my young and athletics background the bone itself will be done by the end of August (I'm actually worried more about pre-consolidation as I learned that speeding up lengthening may not be possible because soft tissues can't catch up, but without speeding up the bone will consolidate early ---> lengthening must stop early). However the soft tissues may recover much slower which will prevent me from walking normally even in October, after the bone consolidates.

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Time to provide a quick update here -

I successfully completed the process a few months ago and gained 8 cm. Now I can comfortably hike 2 miles at a time. Daily life routines are back to normal, except for sports.

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Quote from: Siegfried on October 20, 2021, 08:08:58 AMHow long did the bone take to consolidate from surgery date to full weight bearing capability?

Lengthening is standard 1mm per day so it takes around 87 days post surgery to complete lengthening (no lengthening first week). You will walk with a walker during this phase.

I was able to walk with a cane 5 weeks into the consolidation period and walk independently 13 weeks into the consolidation period. There is a transitional period in which you're cleared to walk with one cane but not cleared to walk independently. This happens when one femur heals faster than the other.

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Quote from: AimHigh on October 20, 2021, 10:38:36 PMin my experience 1 mm per day for 80 days was far from realistic, maybe ok for first two weeks, until the tension got so bad i couldn't sleep or concentrate then dropped to .75 mm until again no longer tolerable etc, eventually ended up and around .33 mm per day (sometimes .25 mm) for last 2 weeks ! - my average over 8cm femoral lengthening was .66 mm (i.e 80/.66+7) = 128 days total.

I routinely had daily yoga & stretching before surgery so that provided additional flexibility which allowed me to keep 1mm per day throughout 80 days. I actually never slowed down but that's just individual experience.