Koehne Diary 21/22 | Unilateral Tibia + Femur

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Hi Siegfried,

How are things going? How is your pain/ mobility at this point? Are you able to do more tasks now?

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Day 60

Hey guys, all good here!

Quick update:

left tibia: 3.5cm - full lengthening completed.
left femur: 2.8cm - target length: 5.8cm

Pain levels: 0 - I know it's curious to hear, but I actually haven't had any pain since about 10 days. I also completely stopped taking any pain meds. Perhaps the pain level will rise once, the femur length increases. However, I'm super fine as of now. Sleep is quite normal as well.

Mobility: Well, im still on crutches and that will stay the case the following months, since
a) im doing precise 2
b) im doing one leg at a time

I really wish I had stryde, since im pretty sure I would be able to lead a normal life by now.

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Glad to hear you have no pain. In terms of Stryde vs Precice, I think it is a double edged sword. Obviously with Stryde your life would be more normal, but Stryde would also be more painful since you would be weight bearing on your broken legs.

Btw, did you have develop any ballerina foot or knee contracture on your way to 3.5 CM tibia? How much PT did you do per day?

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hi siegfried, since youre doing 1 leg at a time with precice, in total how long will you be in crutches? around 6 months or less?
by the way how often do you take x-rays?

thanks.

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I have mild ballerina, nothing unusual. I have pt 2x a week and do about 10-20 min each day.

Knee contracture is fine atm.

In total, you will be in crutches for at least 8-9 months. X rays are taken every 2 weeks

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Hey guys,

little update from my side. I have finished lengthening the tibia by 3.5cm and should be done with my femur, currently 3.7cm in 2-3 weeks, depending on how fast I do the distraction and If I take any breaks in between.

I have been off pain meds since about 3 weeks, however I might pick up on them again, since my hamstrings are starting to get tighter by the day.
My priority is looking as natural as possible and maintaining my athleticism, since sport is a very important factor in my life. For this reason, I will settle around a total lengthening of 8.5cm, which will be satisfying to me.

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Update

3 months post Tibia - finished lengthening at 3.5 cm
2 Months post op Femur - currently at 4.3cm - goal: 5cm

Had another appointment today with Dr.Köehne, to check out my xrays.  Everything seems pretty fine till now. Femur bone growth is doing pretty well, as a matter of fact Dr.Koehne recommended me to increase the daily lengthening from 0.7mm to 1mm, as there is a slight risk I would preconsolidate before I can finish the remaining 7mm.

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8,5 cm is a good goal. I hope you can finish without any issues so you can be back to your athletic activities ! best of luck.

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Glad to hear you are doing well. How are things going on crutches with the 3 inch discrepancy? Is it harder to deal with as you lengthen more, or have you gotten the hang of it?

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Quote from: canterk on January 05, 2022, 09:00:54 PM8,5 cm is a good goal. I hope you can finish without any issues so you can be back to your athletic activities ! best of luck.

Thanks, yeah athletic recovery is definitely a priority, so gonna be a little conservative with lengthening

Quote from: 6CMFemurs on January 05, 2022, 09:11:36 PMGlad to hear you are doing well. How are things going on crutches with the 3 inch discrepancy? Is it harder to deal with as you lengthen more, or have you gotten the hang of it?

I wear an orthopaedic shoe with an 8cm lift on my shorter leg  inside and  outside of my apartment to compensate the discrepancy. The doctor recommended this, in order to prevent excess tightness and to be able to partially weightbear correctly with my operated leg.