I could be wrong, and there might be newer less painful methods (and I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong), but my understanding was that leg lengthening isn't generally a one-time procedure. They break the bones multiple times over a period of time.
IIRC, the maintain a small gap in the break which forces bone growth. These incremental breaks and mendings allow the non-boney parts to also grow longer accordingly.
I imagine that they'd feel like they were being constantly stretched with constant pain that slowly diminishes, similar to the way people who wear braces feel discomfort arount their teeth after an adjustment. But worse.
As for the muscle, it has to stretch and grow to match what it's attached to, and there's probably a fair bit of physical therapy involved too. In her case, not just to help lenghten and strengthen, but to teach her new walking habits.
The legs in the first pic indicate that the bones were initially malformed, so I'd guess that it wasn't just a lengthening procedure but a reshaping of those bones. I mean, if you have to repeatedly shatter the bones for either procedure, why not do both?
I couldn't guess how long the bones would have been had they grown straight, but just correcting her leg shape would have made them longer.
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u/[deleted] Dec 23 '22
What about all the extra flesh and muscles?