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You’ll need regular physical therapy and daily exercises during the lengthening phase to keep your range of motion and bone strength. Most of our patients have achieved increased function (better walking/gait), improved muscle strength and maintained their range of motion (flexibility). They also do daily exercises to maintain joint mobility and muscle strength. Throughout recovery, physical therapy plays a crucial role in keeping the patient's joints flexible and in maintaining muscle strength. I compare it to daily stretching: You may start with tight hamstrings, but with gentle stretching, you’ll eventually be able touch your toes without pulling the muscle. A doctor may also recommend physical therapy to improve activity levels. Sometimes, you may have to stay in the hospital for several days following the surgery for observation and physical therapy. In this example, the lengthening device would stay in place for at least 4 to 5 months. Doctors will not usually recommend the procedure unless a person has a leg length difference of a least 2 centimeters. By monitoring the lengthening process and modulating it as needed, we can prevent, or at least markedly decrease, the complications that are inherent in lengthening operations.
This gradual process of slowly separating the two bone segments is called distraction, which means “pulling apart.” As the two bone segments are slowly pulled apart, new bone forms in the space between them. To hasten bone healing, gradual weight-bearing is encouraged and the patient takes supplements like vitamin D3 and calcium to hasten bone healing. The gradual process of lengthening can be accomplished with either an external fixator or an internal lengthening nail. The nail can be lengthened over time to support bone growth and elongation. Doctors call these devices “fixators” and they help to pull the cut area of the bone apart to encourage new bone growth. An epiphysiodesis is a minor outpatient procedure in which small metal staples are inserted into the growth plate of a long bone (e.g. tibia). This is because the bone needs to be wide enough for an internal rod to be safely inserted inside of it. Throughout this stage, the surgical team will carefully monitor the bone and surrounding muscles, tissues, and nerves.
Your surgical team will tell you how to prepare for surgery. Our patients have come from over 60 countries and six continents to receive comprehensive orthopedic treatment by our world-renowned team. If your child has a limb length difference greater than two inches, they may need to go through the procedure more than once over a period of years. The time after surgery and before the lengthening begins is known as the latency period. After the latency period, the patient will adjust the orthopedic device so that it slowly pulls apart the two bone segments. If you’re trying to bridge the length difference between two legs, your doctor will suggest which bone to lengthen. Before the surgery, your family and your child’s surgeon will decide which type of device will work best for your child. If your child’s joints become stiff, or if their surgeon detects signs of nerve, tendon, or ligament damage, the surgeon may temporarily pause the lengthening and give the limb time to rest.
Your provider can give you pain relief. Toward the end of the consolidation phase, your provider may recommend using the limb without help. In what is called a bifocal procedure for limb salvage, an incision is made at the opposite end of the bone from the affected site. Bone lengthening surgery is a procedure during which the bone which will later be lengthened is cut and removed, the metal plate is implanted and then the bone is moved back, where it will be attached to the pins. During surgery, the doctor will cut the bone to create two separate bone segments. 1. An osteotomy (bone cut) is performed to divide the bone in two. Many of these techniques can be performed in conjunction with limb lengthening. Operative Techniques in Orthopaedics. leg lengthening istanbul-lengthening procedures can be costly, and the price might depend on your location and the doctor you choose. Leg-Lengthening Surgery: What Is It? Adjust your limb lengthening device: Several times each day, you make small adjustments to your device. Each year hundreds of people around the world are opting for long, often painful surgery to extend their legs in a bid to make themselves a few inches taller. For most people, the journey to even out limbs takes about 1 year from the first surgery to removal of an implant or fixator.