How does leg lengthening surgery work? - Jason Shih Hoellwarth

Ever since she can remember, Penny's legs have been to different lengths.

Initially, the discrepancy was small enough to ignore, and later it could be fixed with shoe lifts.

But this difference only increased over time, and after years of difficulty walking and misalignments in posture, she's now dealing with scoliosis alongside chronic back and joint pain.

Penny is far from the only person with this problem.

Differences in leg length can emerge for various reasons, from genetic and hormonal conditions to injuries that impact bone growth.

But while we still don’t know exactly what degree of difference causes health issues, doctors have made great strides in figuring out how to even out these mismatched limbs.

To lengthen a bone you need to grow new bone tissue, and a great way to get the body to do that is to break an existing bone.

Within 5 to 7 days of a bone break or fracture, the body will form a fracture callus at the damaged site.