Lifting weights after leg lengthening

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Quote from: BelowTheMean on January 25, 2022, 01:22:42 AMI don’t think it’s specific to the Stryde nail issues that led to the recall.  Plenty of people have been able to run and work out their legs with their nails still in. I think my legs must be super sensitive to the nail or screws, or something else along those lines. I really hope it’s not due to the change in biomechanics as that probably wouldn’t be resolved by removing the nails.

I suspect it's the screws causing soft tissue pain. A biomechanical change isn't going to induce pain.

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Quote from: ReadRothbard on January 25, 2022, 01:25:59 AMI suspect it's the screws causing soft tissue pain. A biomechanical change isn't going to induce pain.

To be more specific, when I do anything that requires strength in my quads or causes an impact to my femurs I feel some level of pain. I can run, but it hurts my legs a lot each time my foot hits the concrete. I can squat, but it hurts my legs a lot when I do the motion. With no weight added, squats just feel uncomfortable. I can go up to 95 lbs before the pain is too much to bear, but the weight still feels very light to me, so it’s not a lack of muscle. My legs are just as thick as before surgery, even with the extra length and I’m pretty active even with the limitations.

I just hope that when the nails come out I can work out my legs without femur pain, otherwise I’ll have some regrets to the surgery.

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Quote from: BelowTheMean on January 25, 2022, 01:43:40 AMTo be more specific, when I do anything that requires strength in my quads or causes an impact to my femurs I feel some level of pain. I can run, but it hurts my legs a lot each time my foot hits the concrete. I can squat, but it hurts my legs a lot when I do the motion. With no weight added, squats just feel uncomfortable. I can go up to 95 lbs before the pain is too much to bear, but the weight still feels very light to me, so it’s not a lack of muscle. My legs are just as thick as before surgery, even with the extra length and I’m pretty active even with the limitations.

I just hope that when the nails come out I can work out my legs without femur pain, otherwise I’ll have some regrets to the surgery.

Have you brought this up to your physical therapist? this sounds pretty serious to me.

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Quote from: ReadRothbard on January 25, 2022, 01:52:23 AMHave you brought this up to your physical therapist? this sounds pretty serious to me.

It’s been over a year since I had surgery and I stopped physical therapy a long time ago. I consolidated last October and started trying running and heavy weight bearing activities then. I’ve never been able to do any of that without pain. However, when I brought it up with the doctor, he just said my X-rays were perfect (which they are) and that I shouldn’t be having any problems. Not sure what else I can do aside from nail removal.

It honestly doesn’t affect my day-to-day. I’ve been freediving and snowboarding all winter with no problems. It’s only in the gym that I’m limited.

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Quote from: BelowTheMean on January 25, 2022, 02:44:53 AMIt’s been over a year since I had surgery and I stopped physical therapy a long time ago. I consolidated last October and started trying running and heavy weight bearing activities then. I’ve never been able to do any of that without pain. However, when I brought it up with the doctor, he just said my X-rays were perfect (which they are) and that I shouldn’t be having any problems. Not sure what else I can do aside from nail removal.

It honestly doesn’t affect my day-to-day. I’ve been freediving and snowboarding all winter with no problems. It’s only in the gym that I’m limited.

That’s very odd; have you thought about just taking ibu and powering through the pain?

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Quote from: BelowTheMean on January 24, 2022, 07:23:32 AMI can’t do squats or deadlifts at all yet. Both motions produce quite a bit of pain in my femurs. I’m hoping that it’s due to the nails still being inside. My leg muscles are back to the pre-surgery thickness so I imagine it’s not a strength issue.

I was in the same boat after femur lengthening for over 1 year after the surgery.
Everything was fine, x-ray, flexibility, but there was still pain around the knee muscles when I bent them for something like split suqats, where you move forward while doing squats. When it got better I overdid it by doing something extreme like running without warm up, and then it got worse again due to light injury.

What ultimately helped and made it so that it feels almost like pre-surgery is
going down stairs (1 stair) and going back up (2 stairs) for several minutes. First with no weights, then 2.5kg in each hand, then 5kg each hand.

Your muscles gradually heat up, and it becomes easier like every 2-3 minutes, and after 10-15 minutes you have done a great deal of training for the weak muscles around the knee that usually hurt. 15 min of that is intense cardio workout, and it is aimed at where you need it the most.

After that you can do any exercise without pain, or you stop at that point. Your muscles will be ready for any exercise that previously hurt. You can do some squats that previously hurt or stretch way better than before. The more you do the better.

You need to do this every day for a few weeks until you don't need warm up for any exercise that hurt right now.

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Quote from: ReadRothbard on January 25, 2022, 04:55:03 AMThat’s very odd; have you thought about just taking ibu and powering through the pain?

It’s too much pain and painkillers don’t work for it. And this is coming from someone who didn’t feel much surgical or lengthening pain.

Quote from: LLprime3 on January 25, 2022, 03:23:06 PMI was in the same boat after femur lengthening for over 1 year after the surgery.
Everything was fine, x-ray, flexibility, but there was still pain around the knee muscles when I bent them for something like split suqats, where you move forward while doing squats. When it got better I overdid it by doing something extreme like running without warm up, and then it got worse again due to light injury.

What ultimately helped and made it so that it feels almost like pre-surgery is
going down stairs (1 stair) and going back up (2 stairs) for several minutes. First with no weights, then 2.5kg in each hand, then 5kg each hand.

Your muscles gradually heat up, and it becomes easier like every 2-3 minutes, and after 10-15 minutes you have done a great deal of training for the weak muscles around the knee that usually hurt. 15 min of that is intense cardio workout, and it is aimed at where you need it the most.

After that you can do any exercise without pain, or you stop at that point. Your muscles will be ready for any exercise that previously hurt. You can do some squats that previously hurt or stretch way better than before. The more you do the better.

You need to do this every day for a few weeks until you don't need warm up for any exercise that hurt right now.

Thanks for the tip. I’ll try some stair exercises. Those actually hurt too right now, esp after I’ve worked out my legs, but I can see how they would be targeting the pain point.

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I imagine it has to be the screws, but definitely try the exercises the other user suggested, too.

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Quote from: BelowTheMean on January 25, 2022, 05:25:43 PM Those actually hurt too right now, esp after I’ve worked out my legs

That is one more reason to do something as simple as going stairs up and down, without and with weights. Something that basic is not supposed to hurt, but I also had sharp intense pain just from walking down one one leg 3 weeks ago. It's gone as of today. This is the third time that I fixed pain like that, and the solution has always been the same: Easy exercises that slowly build up in intensity. I don't challenge the pain anymore as I tried before. The pain has to go away through recovery, not by killing pain nerves.
And the reason for recurring pain was laziness after I fixed it.

Quote from: ReadRothbard on January 25, 2022, 05:46:46 PMI imagine it has to be the screws, but definitely try the exercises the other user suggested, too.

Whenever I suspected the screws or bones to be the issue, I checked how my legs would feel after exercises. Exercises resolve all the issues concerning the muscles. That means if exercises relieve the pain, it had to do with the muscles since a problem with bones or screws would not disappear from exercises.

I had popping noises, pain that felt like bone issues. It all went away after diligent workout as described above. Workout that is building up in difficulty and feels like cardio workout and not body building.

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Quote from: LLprime3 on January 25, 2022, 11:38:50 PMThat is one more reason to do something as simple as going stairs up and down, without and with weights. Something that basic is not supposed to hurt, but I also had sharp intense pain just from walking down one one leg 3 weeks ago. It's gone as of today. This is the third time that I fixed pain like that, and the solution has always been the same: Easy exercises that slowly build up in intensity. I don't challenge the pain anymore as I tried before. The pain has to go away through recovery, not by killing pain nerves.
And the reason for recurring pain was laziness after I fixed it.

Whenever I suspected the screws or bones to be the issue, I checked how my legs would feel after exercises. Exercises resolve all the issues concerning the muscles. That means if exercises relieve the pain, it had to do with the muscles since a problem with bones or screws would not disappear from exercises.

I had popping noises, pain that felt like bone issues. It all went away after diligent workout as described above. Workout that is building up in difficulty and feels like cardio workout and not body building.

That sounds promising, then; it means the pain could be diminished by something as simple as stationary biking during the consolidation period.