Limb Lengthening Surgery Height

Long Term Effects of Limb Lengthening Surgery Part I:

Apr 26, 2020


I’m guessing you want to know the long term effects of limb lengthening surgery? Well, me too! 


And that’s because, to be honest, there aren’t too many actual “long-term” effects that would sneak up on you that you wouldn’t know is going to happen. What I mean is that if you have a complication like a muscle contracture, non-union or infection that isn’t treated immediately by your doctor, then you’re most likely going to know there will be problems further down the road.

So although there’s limited case studies on “long-term” effects, based on my own experience and speculating from research that I could find, I came up with a few which I categorized into different levels of severity.

Level 1: “Eh-Whatever”: 

  1. Scarring: it’s a given that you’re going to sustain some battle scars after leg lengthening but it’s literally the least of your worries as they will fade a lot and you could get them laser removed later on if you want.


  1. Outgrowing clothes & seat adjustments: Is this annoying? Yeah, problem, no. You just grew 2-6 inches taller, so it’s expected you’ll need a new wardrobe and change your car or bike seat settings but a super small inconvenience. 


  1. Altered bio-mechanics: for some this could be a limiting belief people have thinking that they haven’t recovered fully when all they really need to do, is learn how to adapt to the longer limbs, strengthen the new muscle ROM and you could be as good or even better in many aspects of your athleticism. Strong mindset guys...strong mindset.


Level 2: “Milder”

  1. Muscle stiffness: Believe it or not, one thing I do have to do is stretch 2-3x per week for a couple of minutes to prevent my calf getting tight where I got leg lengthening done on my tibia. If I don’t I notice I get stiff. But it’s way less stretching than I had to do during distraction and the two years post op. After that, you just enter maintenance mode meaning you will need to stretch for life or else you’ll be a bit stiff yeah it’s true. But come on, a few minutes a week, you should be doing that anyway. 


  1. Malunion: sometimes, during distraction, the bones don’t perfectly align and can cause some mild deformities in the bone. Now so long as the bone is fully consolidated this is not a problem, but if healing is poor then it could be more likely to fracture if enough force at the right angle is applied but this is very rare as doctors usually would see this during x-ray checks and adjust.


  1. Nerve damage: they’re going to stretch, they may even tear but usually they don’t and can regenerate. But if you slack on the PT and rehab you could get nerve compression which could affect things. Again, that PT is vital.


Level 3: “Serious”

  1. Infections: now I’m not referring to infections from the surgery itself as that should be taken care of by your surgeon before your final check. What I’m talking about is infections from the leaching metal lengthening devices if you don’t get them taken out within a few years after your surgery. Back when I had mine done nearly 8yrs ago, it “wasn’t mandatory” but I’m glad I did because now it usually is and should be as there just isn’t enough research that proves it’s safe. Not to mention the nails like precice and stryde have a magnet and could affect magnetized machinery like MRIs.


  1. Arthritis: Typically arthritis is caused by consistent wear and tear and shearing forces on the joints. Can limb lengthening one time cause this, possibly but it’s unlikely since it’s a one and done ordeal versus going all out in the gym for the past decade like your boy here. Regardless, proper diet, stretching and adequate rest will significantly reduce the chances of any arthritis.


  1. Poor Mental Outlook: if you did leg lengthening for the wrong reasons and the height you gained didn’t solve your desire then it’s likely you may need to seek therapy or join a support group where you can talk about and get to the root of your problem. The worst long-term effect is regret so make sure you’re getting this done for the right reason as it is way too costly and risky to not be.


So maybe there’ll be more research on long term effects as cosmetic limb lengthening is relatively new. But in the meantime if a problem arises, be sure to immediately discuss it with your doctor so you can resolve it asap and it won’t become long term.

-Victor Egonu