A nine-year-old boy from Northampton has made medical history as the first child in Britain to undergo surgery to lengthen his leg.
Alfie Phillips was born with fibular hemimelia, a rare condition affecting fewer than one in 40,000 births that left his right leg more than an inch shorter than his left.
Surgeons at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool fitted a lengthening nail to the surface of his right thigh bone.
The device was gradually pulled apart using magnets, helping Alfie gain three centimetres in height.
Before this treatment became available, his only option was an external frame attached with pins or wires, which risked pain, infection and scarring.
The operation took place in March 2025, with Alfie spending less than a week in hospital.
Before the procedure, Alfie said some of his peers were “confused” that he was shorter than them, despite being older, and would ask why he was different.
“They did say that I ran a bit different, and I couldn’t skip,” he said. “I was around five and six when it started to get a bit annoying. If they ever wanted a conversation, other than my friends, it was always going to be about my condition.
“When I was obviously a lot younger, I didn’t think it was any different, because I grew up with it.”
Alfie can now play basketball and run normally a year on from his treatment
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Surgeons fitted a lengthening nail to the surface of his right thigh bone, which was gradually pulled apart using magnets
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Doctors used a motorised telescopic nail, a technique developed in the US, placing it on the surface of his femur rather than inside the bone.
The bone was surgically cut and a rod inserted down the centre to keep it in line.
A magnetic device was then applied to Alfie’s leg three times daily for a month.
This gradually separated the two bone ends by around one millimetre each day, allowing the body to fill the gap naturally with new tissue.
Alfie’s leg was made around one millimetre longer each day as part of the pioneering surgeries
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The lengthening process lasted around six weeks, with the nail removed three to four months after surgery.
Consultant orthopaedic surgeon Nick Peterson said: “We know that being able to lengthen internally is less painful and a better experience overall.
“But before this technique, it wasn’t available for children.”
He described external fixators as “difficult to live with”, citing infections, pain, knee stiffness and scarring as common problems.
Alfie’s mother Laura Ducker, 34, said: “By the next morning, he was up walking around with his zimmer frame to the toilet.”
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Doctors at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital (pictured) said Alfie Phillips’s recovery was ‘remarkable’
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“We were told that with the external fixator, he would never have been comfortable enough to do.”
“From day seven, he didn’t need any pain relief, he just managed.”
She added: “He’s running around as normal, if you were to look him you would never know that there had ever been anything happen. He is just incredible.”
Mr Peterson described Alfie’s recovery as “remarkable” and said his experience has been “vastly superior to what it would have been” with older methods.
PICTURED: Alfie Phillips with his sister Matilda, his mother Laura Ducker and her partner Scot Phillips at their home near Northampton
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He said Alfie’s case “paves the way for this technique to replace that old fashioned way of doing things”.
Three more children with fibular hemimelia have since undergone the same procedure at Alder Hey.
Specialists from other hospitals across England have contacted the Liverpool centre seeking to adopt the technique.
Mr Peterson said: “There’s been a huge amount of interest from my colleagues around the country.”
Alfie may require further treatment on his shin bone in future.
Nearly a year after surgery, he is now playing basketball and running normally.