Quote from: portnoy on January 14, 2023, 01:33:28 AM
I showed your picture with your friends to a friend of mine and asked if anything seemed off to him on this picture. He looked for 5 minutes and said "no, what would be off?". Passing the eye test I feel like is the ultimate goal with the surgery, so congrats on the success.
How is your gait atm and are your biomechanics good? I.e. can you squat to pick up stuff normally etc?
That's awesome! No I don't think anybody is going to notice my femurs being as long as they are. My gait is still very much limited because of my duck ass and muscle stiffness, but that it improving noticeably on a daily basis. Usually when I sit on the sofa at home or in the car, I have to do some different stretching exercises to soften up the muscle so I can walk relatively normal. After taking a few more steps my muscles soften up even more and my gait improves. How this is improving is the time and amount of stretching I have to do after being in a resting position for while is getting shorter and shorter every day, as well as my gait is improving.
I'll try to film a clip of me walking next week so you can seen my gait. Can squat down a little bit and also get up no problems from off the floor. I can also use my legs to to get up from the sofa without having to push my self. So my strength is improving every day.
Stand Taller diary - The first day of the rest of my life (Betz Bone 14.01.2022)
Quote from: Stand taller on January 14, 2023, 09:18:19 PMI've done an extreme lengthening in my femurs, more than most. But that also means that my recovery will be longer than most. Compared to somebody who has done 6cm, my recovery will at least be more than twice the time if not more.
Yeah I know walking is the main metric but was definitely nice to hear how you're doing in other areas as well. Are you going to the gym as well? Or is that too early? What type of strength exercises are you doing? I imagine with your PT you're focusing more on stretching than strength.
Because of the extreme lengthening you went through I think it's very interesting to follow your recovery. Hopefully you're back to 100% real soon 
awesome diary
can you show a photo of your legs now? we want to see if you look like this now:
Quote from: Long_Drink_Of_Pi$$ on January 15, 2023, 08:52:53 AMawesome diary
can you show a photo of your legs now? we want to see if you look like this now:
There are literally many pictures he posted here. The last one just a few posts ago. Maybe just scroll up?
Quote from: Long_Drink_Of_Pi$$ on January 15, 2023, 08:52:53 AMawesome diary
can you show a photo of your legs now? we want to see if you look like this now:
Thanks man!
Here is photo of me without pants, so you can see my legs for what they are. I think I have better proportions than the photo you posted, is than you? I have done an extreme lengthening, so I was always going to have a little long femurs - so I don't mind. But unless you know or look for my longs femurs, don't think most people are going to notice. And once I wear clothes it is basically unnoticeable.
https://freeimage.host/i/HYydyLG
Your proportions looks completely fine to me. I never really understood why people obsess so much about proportions anyway. In my mind, the self-esteem boost that 12cm of absolute height could give you far outweighs the possibility that 1 in a 100 people will notice let alone care. If anything, your proportions give you a leggier look which in my opinion looks better because it makes you look even taller.
Quote from: Confidence on January 15, 2023, 11:22:42 PMYour proportions looks completely fine to me. I never really understood why people obsess so much about proportions anyway. In my mind, the self-esteem boost that 12cm of absolute height could give you far outweighs the possibility that 1 in a 100 people will notice let alone care. If anything, your proportions give you a leggier look which in my opinion looks better because it makes you look even taller.
I definitely agree with this. Think about it that way, rather be your dream height with slightly odd proportions or shorter with good proportions? I think if you say the second then perhaps you should reconsider if you suffer enough from height neurosis to do LL in the first place…
Again this is not saying overlengthening is good. Just the aesthetic point alone I think with just underwear you do look elongated, especially when you pull it up like on your right side in the picture. But it is not as terrible as the other guy who was posted here.
So aesthetically you can be happy about yourself and new found confidence.
I am more worried about the following;
biomechanical changes and alignment perhaps risk of osteoarthritis in the knee primarily, perhaps hips as well, in a few years into the future
Very long recovery. Maybe i misread it but fighting duckass and poor gait 1 year post op should really not be the case. I think at the 1 year mark most patients should more or less be recovered enough to do most things except from intense sports maybe.
Quote from: Confidence on January 15, 2023, 11:22:42 PMYour proportions looks completely fine to me. I never really understood why people obsess so much about proportions anyway. In my mind, the self-esteem boost that 12cm of absolute height could give you far outweighs the possibility that 1 in a 100 people will notice let alone care. If anything, your proportions give you a leggier look which in my opinion looks better because it makes you look even taller.
Yeah, I don't really care about proportions. If anything, my almost 1:1 Tibia/Femur ratio pre-surgery meant I have very short femurs, and had much stranger proportions before lengthening.
Quote from: RealLostSoul on January 16, 2023, 12:16:21 AMI definitely agree with this. Think about it that way, rather be your dream height with slightly odd proportions or shorter with good proportions? I think if you say the second than perhaps you should reconsider if you suffer enough from height neurosis to do LL in the first place…
Again this is not saying overlengthening is good. Just the aesthetic point alone I think with just underwear you do look elongated, especially when you pull it up like on your right side in the picture. But it is not as terrible as the other guy who was posted here.
So aesthetically you can be happy about yourself and new found confidence.
I am more worried about the following;
biomechanical changes and alignment perhaps risk of osteoarthritis in the knee primarily, perhaps hips as well, in a few years into the future
Very long recovery. Maybe i misread it but fighting duckass and poor gait 1 year post op should really not be the case. I think at the 1 year mark most patients should more or less be recovered enough to do most things except from intense sports maybe.
The thing is that before surgery because for my short femurs, my proportions where stranger and more unusual than now. Average femur to tibia ratio is 1:1,28. Before surgery my ratio was 1:1,04, so very short femurs - and now my ratio is 1:1,35. In other words my ratio is much more normal now than before. Sure my femurs may look elongated now, but I think that mostly has to do with them and my muscles actually being elongated. I think once I start building more and more muscle they will look less stretched and more natural.
I think I read a study from a few years back that risk osteoarthritis or arthritis is not higher after limb lengthening - but I may be wrong. Duckass is relative to how much one lengthens and how well the body reacts to lengthening. I have done an extreme lengthening in the femurs, possibly more than anybody here on the forum (?), in that case my journey cannot be compared to most. Sure, most people are pretty much fully recovered after a year, but then again - most people lengthening between 5-8cm, I did 11,4cm. For twice the length you can expect at least twice the recovery time, if not more. I was told that the bone consolidates 1cm for every 40 days. Just in bone consolidations alone we are looking at 456 days. Again, you can't compare my case with most.
My duckass, muscle stiffness and gait are improving every day. Today I have less duckass, less muscle stiffness and a better gait than yesterday. There is no rushing this procedure and there are not shortcuts. If there is one thing I have learned about limb lengthening it's that everybody is different and has different recovery and complications if any. And the other thing is that everything will get better in time. Back in the beginning of September my duckass and range of motion was so bad that I actually though I may never walk again. But now I have no problem going to the store and shop groceries. Sure my gait isn't 100% yet, I can still shop without any problems - and as I said. Mt form is improving every day.
Quote from: RealLostSoul on January 16, 2023, 12:16:21 AMI definitely agree with this. Think about it that way, rather be your dream height with slightly odd proportions or shorter with good proportions? I think if you say the second than perhaps you should reconsider if you suffer enough from height neurosis to do LL in the first place…
Yup, exactly what I was thinking. To me, LL should just be a straight shot; either go for as much as you can while minimizing loss of function or don't go for it at all. The price you have to pay for LL: the mental challenge, financial considerations, pain, time doing research, and risk of complications is just not worth it for a couple cm. Reality is there is always going to be a proportions trade off whether we get 1cm or 16cm.
The goal for most of us should be to keep things simple: cure height neurosis and minimize societal stigma towards our height while maintaining our pre-surgical functionality. Worrying about other body image issues/proportions just adds unnecessary anxiety/complication to the price we already have to pay.
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