Treatment methods
Explore limb lengthening methods
Lengthening techniques as listed by providers, shown in the LimbAtlas taxonomy order — not by popularity. Named nails and frames are listed separately under devices.
Methods here are lengthening techniques, kept separate from the devices used with them and from providers' own procedure names. Listings are provider-reported and publicly sourced, and informational only — LimbAtlas does not recommend a technique or device, and suitability depends on an individual clinical assessment. Confirm current details directly with a provider. Diagrams are simplified illustrations, not to scale and not of any specific device.
InternalNail inside the bone
Fully internal lengthening
Lengthening in which an adjustable nail inside the bone produces the gradual lengthening, without an external frame.
20 listed providers13 countries
ExternalExternal frame
External fixation
Lengthening in which an external frame, attached to the bone with wires or pins that pass through the skin, produces the gradual lengthening.
20 listed providers14 countries
Combined internal and externalFrame and nail together
Lengthening over nail (LON)
A combined technique in which an intramedullary nail and an external fixator are applied in the same operation; the frame produces the lengthening while the nail is already in the bone.
5 listed providers4 countries
Combined internal and externalFrame first, then nail
Lengthening and then nailing (LATN)
A staged combined technique in which an external fixator produces the lengthening first, and an intramedullary nail is inserted only after the planned length is reached.