Me: This is a device that is commonly used by orthopaedic surgeons to lengthen the limbs for people who decide to use the limb lengthening surgery for cosmetic reasons ie. become taller. This is known as the internal method since the metal rod is implanted into the bone’s intermedullary cavity. Some places like Dr. Betz of Germany specialize in the internal nail method. On the Make Me Taller Boards this method is discussed extensively.
The device found below is a derivation of the general intramedullary nail method. If you go to the overview section of the google patents you would see that many other companies and corporations have invented and patented similar internal devices.
From Google Patents HERE…
Bone and tissue lengthening device
Alan R. Spievack
A device for lengthening bone in an human or animal by incrementally extending the distance between discrete separated portions of the bone to permit continued bone growth between the separated portions comprising an intramedullary nail having distal and proximal portions both of which are secured with the medullar canal of the bone. A hydraulic cylinder comprises the proximal portion of the nail and a piston comprises the distal portion of the nail. An implantable supply of operating fluid communicates with the cylinder. A ratcheting mechanism, between the piston and cylinder, limits their relative movement. A shock absorber mechanism permits limited lost motion between the piston and cylinder and ratcheting release mechanisms are employed to permit the piston and cylinder to reverse directions.
[Note: The picture on the right was clipped from the patent webpage link above. It is not mine.]
Analysis and Interpretation: This post was done to show that there are indeed innovations and steps being moved forward in the limb lengthening area of study. Distraction Osteogenesis, the process where a bone is broken through an induced fracture and then made to expand through pulling, is not just for cosmetic reasons. I highly doubt that the original creator of this overall technique would be so thrilled to know that his surgical breakthrough was being used so extensively to make people taller. We as agroup care about our height and how tall we are. Almost all of us want a relatively painless, non-invasive way to grow taller even when we are adult. This inventions which I won’t go into the technical details shows that there are indeed many biomedical and orthopedic device companies around the world which do come out with some innovative ideas on how to make limb lengthening surgery better, easier, faster, and with less pain.
It is a little painful for me to say this but it seems that if a person really, REALLY wanted to grow taller, they actually do have so me good options. One member from the Make Me Taller forums was featured on ABC News Apotheosis would choose to go through limb lengthening surgery twice, to go from 5′ 6″ to 5′ 9″ and then again to go from 5′ 9″ to 6′ 2″ to gain a total of 8 inches through surgery. On the 2nd surgery, he would take the internal intramedullary nail approach so that the lengthening is not visible to outersiders. The Chinese Surgeon Bai Helong would claim HERE that his external fixator device would be even simpler, less invasive since the device he uses (pictured on the left) only punctures the body in two main areas, is NON-PAINFUL (which I think is bullshit), cost a little over $10,000 (around the time of the article, about 6 years ago), and very fast for healing, around 6 months. These types of conditions suggest that maybe, just maybe the limb lengthening surgery approach is not that crazy, long, or painful to go through. A person who recently finished high school or college may decide to spend the next entire year in getting this type fo surgery to start a completely new life out.
Quoted from the article…
“We’ve not had a single failure since 1995, and now it’s not painful,” insists the doctor, who charges 75,000 yuan (11,000 dollars) for the surgery.”
In the 90s when people first started to hear about the idea of limb lengthening surgery, images of very large, ugly looking scary external fixators like from the movie Gattaca where Ethan Hawke portrays a guy who was not tall enough to become in a space program but he accepted to subject himself to getting surgery and wearing the external fixators to get that 3-4 extra inches.
This patent shows that more and more, the surgery to be done to make our height dreams come true is becoming better, faster, easier to do, and with less complications.
The truth is that due to what the orthopedic surgeon Gavriil Abramovich Ilizarov from the Soviet Union, who pioneered the technique did we already do have the technology to grow taller, even when we are in our 40s. The method is not as bad as some people may believe. It is true that we do have our bones initially broken apart, but that is for a certain reason and the break is not as bad as others like journalists would make it seem.
A clip of the patent application is posted below….
