Hey guys since Femurs do not run straight up and down like the tibias as seen in this picture (attached) but in fact run at a slanted angle, if you were to lengthen for example, 5 cm in them, would the actual gain be 5 cm, or it would it be more or less? Can math whizzes help me out on this and also give the reason behind their answers. Thanks guys and looking forward to the responses. It's just I would hate to lengthen a certain amount and then when I measure myself post-lengthening I don't get the amount I thought I would.
Since femurs are slanted, does amount lengthened = amount gained? less/more?
and to clarify, by "gain" I mean, when you measure yourself against the wall, for example, would you be 5cm taller or would it be more like 4.9cm or 5.1cm or even more/less?
Logically the height gain would actually have to be less than the ammount lengthened, although im not sure how much difference, it depends on how angled your femurs are
Quote from: Wannabegiant on March 12, 2014, 12:44:42 PMLogically the height gain would actually have to be less than the ammount lengthened, although im not sure how much difference, it depends on how angled your femurs are
Yeah that would make sense, I'm wondering by how much though. Because if it's .1, .2 or even .3cm+ that one would lose, I'd then need to make sure to lengthen slightly more than planned to meet my goals.
I can say from my experience. I lengthened 7cm and the gain was 6.5cm. You will always loose some mm in height, even if you had a smooth lengthening, for a lot of reasons. Most of the guys I know gained in height 0.5 - 1cm less than what they have lengthened.
Quote from: somecm on March 12, 2014, 12:52:53 PMI can say from my experience. I lengthened 7cm and the gain was 6.5cm. You will always loose some min height, even if you had a smooth lengthening, for a lot of reasons. Most of the guys I know gained in height 0.5 - 1cm less than what they have lengthened.
Wow that's a pretty significant loss. I guess I'll just have to make myself stand up every so often during lengthening and measure myself against a wall to see the true height achieved at that point.
Quote from: somecm on March 12, 2014, 12:52:53 PMI can say from my experience. I lengthened 7cm and the gain was 6.5cm. You will always loose some mm in height, even if you had a smooth lengthening, for a lot of reasons. Most of the guys I know gained in height 0.5 - 1cm less than what they have lengthened.
Who did you get your femurs done with if you don't mind me asking? And thru what method?
That's pretty significant but not surprising to me. The femurs are very curved and slanted, which means the bone can lengthen all it wants but the actual height realized is always going to be less.
Quote from: somecm on March 12, 2014, 12:52:53 PMI can say from my experience. I lengthened 7cm and the gain was 6.5cm. You will always loose some mm in height, even if you had a smooth lengthening, for a lot of reasons. Most of the guys I know gained in height 0.5 - 1cm less than what they have lengthened.
Just making sure since you didn't say, did you do femurs or tibia?
So it is a good idea to lengthen 0.5-1 cm more. Less height from external pin bending is understandable but internals? It will be a good idea to ask a LL surgeon about this!
This is why the standing x-ray is important no matter how you're lengthening. Looking at the gap or counting clicks/turns doesn't tell the whole story regarding standing height. Measuring the legs in the before/after standing x-rays straight up and down will tell you how much height you gained.
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