How Much Limb Lengthening Surgery Height is Safe

When it comes to determining how much height you should gain via cosmetic limb lengthening several factors will dictate your answer. Things like…

• How tall do you want to be?
• How flexible you are?
• What are your leg length proportions currently?
• How much money can you invest…2 surgeries?
• How hard are you willing to work to regain your physical ability post-op?

Of course there are more factors that will play a role but these will be the primary ones. 

So this is a loaded question that will depend on several factors such as your personal height goal within reason, your flexibility, desired limb proportions, money you are able to invest, the amount of athleticism you can regain and most importantly your work ethic. 

Personal Goal:

How tall do you want to be? This’ll be different for everyone but you should pick a realistic goal within safe ranges. 

• Within reason: usually anything over 7.5-8cm in the femurs or over 5cm in tibiae can be dangerous so if you’re looking for 5-6inches (13-15cm) in height it’ll require more than one lengthening surgery to accomplish. You might hear a rule of thumb being 10-15% of your bone length is a safe amount but depends on how the surgeon measures your height. 
• If you give someone the option to lengthen up to 9-10cm they’ll go up to that amount. So there are limits so do so within the safety parameters or pick a more conservative method. 

Flexibility

• This is a major factor that must be considered so when you consult with your doctor they’ll probably perform some sort of ROM exams to see if you are even a candidate for lengthening and if you can achieve your desired goal safely. 
• Ober sign exam to see the flexibility of the IT band
• Popliteal angle hamstring test: done one leg at a time to see how tight the hamstrings are which in most people are a weak link and very tight. I know I have tight hams and last summer I strained a hamstring when deadlifting. Granted, I was trying to tie my all time best of 600lbs but you get the idea.
• Duncan-Ely Test- to check knee flexion or the tightness of the rectus femoris of the quad muscles.
• Silverskiold Test- dorsiflexion or bringing your toes up towards your knee with leg straight if you can’t do this you have tight calves and LL is not recommended. Some docs may do a release of the calf tendon to lengthen the calf muscle to prevent muscle contracture.

Proportions:

• In a previous article I mentioned the average ratio of tibia to femur ratio is somewhere between 0.78 to 0.82 and if it’s below that like 0.75 then you have short tibias and should lengthen them and vice versa to not affect your proportions too much if symmetry is your thing. 

How long of a Sabbatical:

• Let’s say you’re a person who wants to lengthen your femurs the full amount via an internal nail of 8cm at a distraction rate of 1mm per day. In mm that’s about 3 months of lengthening and it takes about 2 more months to heal so a total of 5 months or 20 weeks for consolidation when you can resume activity. 

How much $ Money you will invest:

• Doing more length than the internal rod can handle, you’d be needing more than one surgery which will drive up costs so that will affect your height goal if limited by finances. 

Athleticism Post-Op

• Finally, can you get back to your pre-surgery abilities if you get lengthening done? The answer is yes you can. BUT it depends on 3 things itself…

1. You must be within reason and safe ranges of length (usually 5-7.5cm for the femurs and 3.5-5cm in the tibiae)
2. You must do consistent and rigorous physical therapy and stretching throughout the process of lengthening and even after
3. You must be mentally tough to follow the most effective rebuilding plan to regain your strength and activity-specific abilities. 

I’ve had several people tell me you cannot get back to where you were before or even surpass it and the reason is they must have failed at one of these 3 things I just mentioned. (or maybe they had a complication which I’m sorry to hear). 

Getting back to where you were previously will be different due to biomechanical changes of the new height but different doesn’t mean worse. The body can adapt amazingly well and with the right work ethic, working consistently hard in a smart direction you can come back. It takes time, it takes the right comeback plan but you can.

I made myself a comeback routine before my surgery even happened and I tweaked it along the way so that I could use it again one day should I need to but now it may come to be useful for one of you someday. 

So to summarize, pick a safe height range, stay loose and work hard and after all is said and done, you’ll be a taller version of yourself.