TALL. That's what we all want to be, right?

Well, here's good news for the vertically challenged out there: you can still gain a few extra centimeters without resorting to elevated shoes.

St. Luke's Medical Center's Institute of Orthopedics and Sports Medicine recently announced a collaborative effort with two German institutions that showcased the latest technology in limb lengthening and straightening called Fitbone.

Through the Fitbone technique, an individual can gain up to 180 mm in height in about six months.
Fitbone technology was originally intended to correct shortened or deformed limb bones caused by injury, disease or other causes like congenital defect.

"It can be applied to 'stretch' both the upper and lower bones of the legs and even the bone of the upper arms, and some patients who underwent the procedure have achieved greater height,'' reports Fitbone innovator, Dr. Augustin Betz of the Ludwig-Maximilians University Klinikum Innenstadt in Munich.

Safer, simpler

Wittenstein intens GmbH, the manufacturer of Fitbone instruments, in partnership Munich hospital, chose St. Luke's as one of five medical institutions in Asia authorized to perform this breakthrough procedure. Other countries that have this exclusive arrangement are Thailand, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea.

According to the surgeons at St. Luke's, the Fitbone procedure is much safer to use and simpler to perform compared to the conventional bone extension surgery methods known today.

"The Fitbone instrument is a fully implantable device with self-contained intramedullary nail and wireless power supply,'' explains St. Luke's Dr. Mario Ver.

Fitbone uses a steel implant that gradually lengthens when activated by a wireless control unit. The devise is inserted into the hollow of a bone that has been cut crosswise.

The device, activated by the remote control unit, increases in length at 1 mm a day. The bone's cut ends grow and fuse eventually.

"The operation takes about two hours to complete and the patient can be discharged in four to five days. When the desired length is reached, it would take about three months more for the bone to gain its normal strength," says Betz, who visited the country last week to introduce the technology.

'Stretching' bones

The Fitbone procedure follows the principle that when a bone is cut and the two parts are pulled apart very slowly, the defect that is produced is filled with newly generated bone tissue, which results in controlled lengthening of the bone.

Although the lengthening process is often called "stretching," the bone is not actually stretched. Instead, the very small amount of tension that the frame exerts on the bone stimulates the bone to grow, filling the gradually enlarging gap with new bone material. Similarly, the surrounding muscles, nerves, skin and blood vessels also grow.

Bone distraction has been a successful treatment for people who had accidents.

Perhaps the only downside to this procedure is the cost of operation.

St. Luke's has yet to quote a price for the entire procedure but in Bangkok, where the first Fitbone surgery in Asia was performed, the cost reached a stratospheric 50,000 dollars (or about 2.5 million pesos).