USING THE ANKLE WEIGHTS TECHNIQUE FOR HEIGHT INCREASE

The method of creating micro fractures in legs then using ankle weights to increase leg length is partly based on limb lengthening surgery which is increasingly becoming a popular option for increasing leg length at any age for those who desire to have their legs lengthened though the procedure is quite risky and prohibitively expensive.

The limb lengthening idea was stumbled upon by Dr. Gavril Abramovich Lizarov a soviet medical doctor in 1951 while treating World war II veterans with leg injuries.

Leg lengthening surgery involves strategically breaking or cutting the shinbone and thigh bone into two then slowly separating the ends of the broken bone and allowing the separated parts of the bones to rejoin as the bone heals over a period of about 3 – 5  months.

The bone of course heals by manufacturing new bone between the created gaps.

If you prefer limb lengthening without surgery, then you may consider using ankle weights as demonstrated in the article below.

To use ankle weights to lengthen your legs, you will have to create stress/ micro fractures first.

A stress/ micro fracture is a partially formed fracture as a result of increasing load or stress to a particular region of the bone.

However, because of the way bones respond to stress, sometimes conditions like shin splints are mistaken for micro fractures.

What are shin splints?

Shin splints is pain and irritation you feel along the inner edge of shin bones especially the lower part of the shin bones after exercising vigorously especially on a hard surface .

The pain normally resolves after rest.

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On the other hand, micro fracture pain is centered to the zone of the fracture and whenever you run or jump using the leg with the fracture, you feel discomfort until the fracture heals.

How to create micro fractures in your legs.

Micro fractures  form in legs when you apply too much stress too often for the bone to recover or get used. [1]

For instance, if you run too often at a high intensity on a hard surface for 5- 7 days a week without a break when the body isn’t used to this kind of activity, stress fractures will form.

In the military, more women sustain micro fractures than men while more white men and women sustain micro fractures than Hispanics or African Americans partly due to lower bone density among white populations.

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Micro fractures are mainly detected in shin bone or tibia bone because they are the bones that bear almost the entire body weight.

However, among athletes who do lots of running and soldiers who march a lot, micro fractures can also form in foot bones or metatarsals and fibula bone.

Micro fractures can form in any bone in the body as long as it is exposed to too much external load than the bone can handle.

The fractures are extremely small which sometimes makes it impossible to detect with x-ray imaging.

How and why do micro fractures form ?

First, leg muscles normally suck up almost all the stress or load applied to the legs when running or walking.

However, when the stress applied to the legs is more rapid than the muscles can handle, they get fatigued and weaken leaving the leg bones exposed to the in coming stress.

To cope with the in- coming stress, bones will strive to repair themselves at a faster rate.

Thus, bone formation and resorption will take place more rapidly.

Bones continually undergo the remodeling process to be in position to withstand forces from external pressures.

However, time comes when more bone is broken down than is formed leading to brittle bones and making it easier for cracks or micro fractures to form.

In other words, micro fractures don’t result from a single cruel physical activity rather they are formed when the activity is done repetitively but at a less magnitude than is required to form a complete fracture in single assault like a heavy fall or a very high impact on bones.

Secondly, it’s suggested that too much loading of the bones as a result of intense running or marching constricts the blood vessels thus cutting off oxygen supply which initiates the process of bone remodeling.

This process weakens the bones and it leads to micro fractures.

Activities that can be done repetitively to cause micro fractures include jumping, marching, running or any other physical activity that repetitively increases stress on lower extremities.

Thus, it may take days of repetitive running or jumping for micro fractures to form and once they are created, it takes weeks or months to completely heal though the healing process takes place everyday.

How do you know that you’ve created micro fractures ?

1. Pain in shin bone area after suddenly performing an exercise that requires jumping, marching or running at a very high intensity without giving leg bones and or muscles ample time to rest and recover.

2. The site of the micro or stress fracture may also be sensitive to touch.

Pain significantly reduces once you take a break from the exercise so, once you start feeling the sharp pain, it should be time take a break from the activity that caused the microfracture to avoid any aggravated injury to the bones.

3. The other way of knowing that a micro fracture is formed is by jumping with just one leg under investigation.

If you feel any sharp pain in the shin bone area, then chances are high that the micro fracture is created.

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4. X-ray scan is easy to access and relatively a cheaper option to detect micro fractures but unreliable since micro fracture imaging may only appear 2 -4 weeks from the on set of pain in the affected area thus decreasing chances of earlier detection by x rays.

5. The Technetium -99 bone scan is regarded as one the best if not the best possible way of detecting micro fractures.

The patient is inoculated with Technetium- 99 ( a drug used in nuclear medicine) before scanning the bones with a gamma camera.

This method permits detection of bone remodeling activity that can’t be detected by x-rays and CT scans.

Thus, it’s easier to detect any minute fractures with this technique.

6. The Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan is considered to be very sensitive since it uses very powerful magnetic fields and radio waves to form scanned images thus it’s also very effective in detecting micro fractures.

Irregularities caused by the micro fracture can be detected by the MRI scan within 48 hours from the onset of pain.

How long do micro fractures take to heal?

With leg lengthening surgery, bone grows at a rate of approximately 1 mm per day or even more.

But it takes at least 6 -8 weeks for micro fractures to completely heal.

In other words, even when the fracture gap is completely sealed, it takes time for bone to completely ossify or harden.

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Just like other weighted clothing, their main purpose is to increase resistance to the body which increases overall body fitness, strength, toning and stamina.

Generally, weighted clothing is a form of resistance training.

When executing exercises that target the leg and hip muscles like leg lifts, ankle weights can be handy since they place a substantial load on those particular muscle groups because the muscles require more effort to move the increased weight against gravity there by increasing leg fitness and strength.

Ankle weights are wrapped at the lower shin bone area and around the Achilles tendon , just above the ankle.

How to sit or sleep with ankle weights.

First, if the type of ankle weights you use aren’t heavily padded or cushioned, you must first wrap the ankle with a bandage or piece of cloth to protect your skin from bruising or blistering.

Alternatively, use foam but do not wear socks because the weights will pull them down thereby causing friction against your skin in the process.

Find a chair or a bed high enough to allow your legs to dangle when seated or lying on the bed.

When sleeping or sitting with ankle weights begin with lighter weights of about 2-3kgs then gradually increase after a week or two if the legs get used to lighter weights.

If you wish, you can jog with ankle weights before .

If you intend to include this method in your grow taller exercise routine or workout plan, use ankle weights after creating micro fractures and leave them on for at least an hour everyday until the fracture completely heals but seeping with ankle weights at night isn’t a good idea. Better to do it during the day.

For success stories of height increase by microfracture technique,  download and read..

The PDF for the 4th Edition of the Grow Taller After Puberty Exercise Routine handbook »»»

AUTHOR BIO

As a short guy who was psychologically distressed almost everyday due to the challenges he faced in life accountable to his height, Dennis Raney (Bsc.) finally somehow found a way to overcome this adversity by naturally increasing his height with lifestyle and healthy changes.

He has been researching this topic for over a decade and practically applying the knowledge so he decided to share his wealth of information about the topic of increasing height both during and after puberty in the book and on this blog.

Feel free to connect with him for a conversation:

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