Question regardig amount of femur lengthening

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Hey,

How are you feeling bro? Are there any problems going on? I hope you are doing fine.

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Quote from: m7liam on August 08, 2020, 03:22:51 PMHow many weeks in are you?

I’m 3.5 weeks post op and I’m about 160 degrees on left leg but only 145 degrees on right leg in terms of flexion

Straight legs are 0°.  You measure from 0 upwards, not 180 downwards. No one has 160 degrees knee flexion No one has 160° knee flexion after a leg lengthening. I didnt even do lengthening and I don't even have anywhere near that range. That's very flexible levels. You're measuring it wrong.

Higher the range, the better

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Quote from: ghkid2019 on August 26, 2020, 12:51:34 PMNo one has 160 degrees knee flexion, especially after a leg lengthening.

Really, what about people who actually can touch their back with their sole/toes when they bend their knee?

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Quote from: LLprime2 on August 26, 2020, 01:21:11 PMReally, what about people who actually can touch their back with their sole/toes when they bend their knee?

Yeah, that would probably be at 160 or a bit close. 160 is achievable, so 'no one' is not accurate. You need to have skinny calves and thighs though, and be pretty darn flexible

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I think I can do it wth?

Can you lead me to a picture where the 160 degrees knee bending is performed? I couldn't find it.

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Quote from: a on August 26, 2020, 02:59:44 PMI think I can do it wth?

Can you lead me to a picture where the 160 degrees knee bending is performed? I couldn't find it.

It's uncommon, but I'm sure you can do it and plenty can. It just requires flexibility and being somewhat skinny on the legs. It's called a heel sit

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Sounds like you're doing great!

For me, it's been 2 and a half weeks since I had the surgery (LON, femurs) and I'm a little concerned about my ROM. I'm currently at 80° flex and 10° extension. It's worrying because I used to be very flexible...

Can I ask whether you have continued to improve or has your flexibility decreased as you've lengthened? Also, do you have any advice for someone like me in the early stages of the distraction period (e.g. are there any particular exercises that you feel might help recover ROM at a faster rate)?

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Hello fellow femur LON brother,

I really don’t think you should worry. From what i’ve heard from my physiotherapist who has done PT with a bunch of LON femur patients, 80 degree flexion and 10 degree extension is more than acceptable for someone at your stage. For now you need to do AGGRESSIVE physical therapy every day focusing on stretching your quads and hamstrings. My progress has continued steady even though lengthening has increased. However, i do notice that progress requires a bit more work. I am now at 5.5/6cm and everything is going great, i can walk unassisted now.

As the advice, i really think you should focus on strengthening your quads and getting the flexibility back in your muscles. My walking got progressively better as my quads got stronger and more mobile to the point i can now walk unasissted. I highly reccomend to try transitioning to crutches instead of the walker as soon as you are able to. The crutches allow you to weight bear more and also work on your balance.

I made a video very early in my journey on an exercise that has helped me a lot with my quadricep flexibility and knee flexion. As you can see in the video, i am doing seated knee flexion while using a towel to wrap around my leg so i can pull my foot closer, thus getting a much greater stretch than what i would get without it. I hope you understand what i mean. This video was around 2 weeks post op aswell. Link:  https://streamable.com/nqrsu2

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Quote from: lolwhyamidoingthis on August 31, 2020, 08:28:55 PMHello fellow femur LON brother,

I really don’t think you should worry. From what i’ve heard from my physiotherapist who has done PT with a bunch of LON femur patients, 80 degree flexion and 10 degree extension is more than acceptable for someone at your stage. For now you need to do AGGRESSIVE physical therapy every day focusing on stretching your quads and hamstrings. My progress has continued steady even though lengthening has increased. However, i do notice that progress requires a bit more work. I am now at 5.5/6cm and everything is going great, i can walk unassisted now.

As the advice, i really think you should focus on strengthening your quads and getting the flexibility back in your muscles. My walking got progressively better as my quads got stronger and more mobile to the point i can now walk unasissted. I highly reccomend to try transitioning to crutches instead of the walker as soon as you are able to. The crutches allow you to weight bear more and also work on your balance.

I made a video very early in my journey on an exercise that has helped me a lot with my quadricep flexibility and knee flexion. As you can see in the video, i am doing seated knee flexion while using a towel to wrap around my leg so i can pull my foot closer, thus getting a much greater stretch than what i would get without it. I hope you understand what i mean. This video was around 2 weeks post op aswell. Link:  https://streamable.com/nqrsu2

Thanks for sharing the video, that's really helpful!

Unfortunately the pain in the pinsites on my knees has gotten so bad in the last few days that it hurts to move even a little bit. That hasn't stopped me from doing daily physio and massaging affected areas, but it feels like my ROM is getting worse and not better right now.

Doctors say that my pins are clean and not infected, but for some reason they hurt like hell (probably because they opened up the wounds around the pins too much during surgery - they're huge and still weep even 3 weeks post op). Don't suppose you also experienced pinsite pain that has been restrictive to your movement?

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Hi Bingy,

I 100% have experienced the same as you. I was having pin site pains and i was convinced that i had an infection, but alas, after inspection by nurses and my doctor, it was no infection. After my first x-ray after i started lengthening my doctor noticed my consolidation was too fast, therefore i had to increase lengthening to 1.5mm for a couple days. The increase in lengthening really increased my pin site pain for some reason.

You should speak with your doctor. The only thing that helped my pin site pain was to stop lengthening for a day or two until it cleared up. It is truly HORRIBLE to have bad pains in your pin sites when you are doing externals on femur. I really feel your pain there my friend. My doctor said that activity should be reduced when your pin sites are doing badly.

And also, when my pin site pain got worse, my movements definitely got worse. I suppose the pain is due to microtearing in the wounds.. As long as it is not an infection it should not be dangerous, but it is REALLY frustrating. If i were you, i would really focus on letting your pin sites recover before you continue with any aggressive physio.

Good luck my friend, i was in the exact same situation as you and it got so much better after i stopped lengthening for a day or two. Are you lengthening more than 1mm per day?