Can someone clear up the external lengthening amounts for me?

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I am 5'7 at night, 5'7.5 in the afternoon. Don't know how much that is in cm. Anyway I would like to do 4-5 cm external tibias. Most likely only 4 with parihar, solomin, or catagni. Something I'm not understanding is I hear for externals you really don't get the amount you were aiming for? I have seen some people claim to lose 1.5 cm after they get their frames off. If this is actually the case then I will not go this route.

My wingspan is 5'9 and I don't have broad shoulders just decent arm length for my height. If I wanted 4cm external tibias would I really only gain 3cm after the frames are removed. So If I wanted 4cm I would actually need the recovery time of 5? It's just kind of confusing.

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Loss due to subsidence is quite common in external and it is usually around 0.5mm and depends on how solid your bones are at the time of frame removal among some other factors.

I recall reading a study that stated that the elastic limit of soft tissues is around 7cm therefore you should lengthen to 5cm without worrying too much.

Most people have no issues reaching 5cm on this forum and the tightness/ problems start after that.

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Dr Parihar told me that subsidence is pretty rare and when it does happen it's only around a couple of mm. As far as people claiming that they lost a significant amount like 1 cm or more, he said that actually losing that amount after lengthening is impossible and it's very likely that the x-ray technician or surgeon simply made an error in measurement by not factoring magnification of the image.

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If the doc locks the nail the bone isn't going to compress or shorten unless your overweight cause weight forces bones to compact against eachother. If anything u can always turn 5 cm just in case and 5 cm is regarded as the most optimal distraction amount especially with a good starting height like 5'5-5'7