Regarding fibula non union

Hi,

I underwent tibial lengthening around 1.5 years ago... got new x-rays and my fibulas have not reached union despite my active effort to do so by exercising.
I was wondering what I am missing here. do they naturally take a long time to heal or am I the anomaly?

X-rays:
https://ibb.co/SxSzHZW
https://ibb.co/M5LxfMq
https://ibb.co/8xbWjNn

Fibula non-union is one of the higher risks of tibia lengthening.

With that I mean from the complications that arise with tibia lengthening it is one of the most common.

How much did you lengthen and what lengthening speed rate did you use?

ive seen one guy had 1 fibula non union and they still removed his nails. just asking what are you stacking for nutrition?
i can recommend you take some viagra or sildenafil. it promotes bone growth so u may likely grow out the fibula. or a product called icariin 98% similar to viagra and will also promote bone growth. after finding those u should be taking protein and calcium. taking viagra may make u grow a beard so tred lightly.
my left side fibula consolidated pretty quick but not my right side. after that i started smoking weed and havent taken an xray yet. im still not sure about my right leg.

I lengthened around 5cm, and my lengthening rate was normal (1 mm/day). I made sure my nutrition was adequate. this situation does not really affect my life quality but it's kind of a bummer for them not to heal despite all the effort.

You clearly have no systemic problems because your other bones healed very well. Whatever it may be, even if it does not affect you right now, I would get advise asap. These bones are there for a reason, so having them disjointed is unlikely to be a good thing, especially once your nails get removed. Perhaps you can do something called EMTT, which is said to help.

What did your doctor say btw?

My left fibula has non union for about 0,5cm. Still it has and it is like that since my LL (10+ years).
I visited many doctors about it and all told me that it hasn't any significance amd won't cause me any problem at all in the long run.
The only thing I feel is a medium pain in the spot of the non union if I hit it with power, nothing else.
I don't know if what the doctors told me is true but I believe that if there would be a major problem they would have suggested me to fix it. After all the gap is really small and it could be fixed without huge effort and doctors would like to do it to get money if it would be needed.
So maybe they are right that it causes no problem.

Just curious, can non union be with femurs when you did LL? Or it mostly for tibia?

Quote from: Staystrong on January 30, 2024, 12:41:02 AMJust curious, can non union be with femurs when you did LL? Or it mostly for tibia?

Of course, it can happen anywhere. If it does happen in a femur then that is so much worse than in a fibula, for obvious reasons.

Quote from: Staystrong on January 30, 2024, 12:41:02 AMJust curious, can non union be with femurs when you did LL? Or it mostly for tibia?

It could in theory, but in practice we very rarely see non union in the femurs or tibias. It’s mostly something we see in the fibula as a result of tibia lengthening.