i) Congenital pseudoarthrosis and lengthening

Abstract Limb lengthening and the treatment of congenital pseudoarthrosis require the ability to predictably regenerate bone in vivo. Ilizarov, through his experiments in the 1950s and 1960s, summarised this in his ‘Principle of Tension—Stress': living tissue, when subjected to slow steady traction, becomes metabolically active in both biosynthetic and proliferative pathways, a phenomenon dependent on vascularity and functional use. Limb lengthening and the treatment of congenital pseudoarthrosis as well as other selected orthopaedic conditions, are based on this principal. This article outlines the management of congenital pseudoarthrosis and limb lengthening problems using Ilizarov's techniques.