Limb Lengthening and Deformity

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Pain in the hip, knee, and ankle can often be caused by bowlegs (varus deformity) or knock knees (valgus deformity). In other words, when our legs are not aligned straight at the hips, knees, and ankles, there can be an abnormal force across the knee. This often leads to pain, cosmetic deformity, and premature knee arthritis.

Surgical correction can help treat the deformity. With minimally invasive treatment, your leg can be realigned. As a result, you’ll feel less pain, look better, and have healthier knees.

Thanks to the Ilizarov procedures, innovative surgical techniques originally developed more than half a century ago in Russia, individuals with limb length discrepancies - the result of a poorly healed fracture, disease, or a congenital defect - may be candidates for treatment that can not only correct the discrepancy, but also address any associated deformity.

Limb lengthening is achieved by gradual separation of a cut or defect across a long bone in the arm or leg, taking advantage of the body's own capacity to create new bone across the gradual lengthening defect. Surrounding soft tissues, ligaments, blood vessels, and nerves also lengthen to support the elongated new bone. During the gradual lengthening the limb is stabilized with internal pins or rods connected to external fixation devices or frames. The limb is lengthened as new bone grows and consolidates in the gradually elongated interval of the bone.