Jennifer Matthews: 15-Year-old Kody Reed may have changed his "game" from football to basketball. But it was a change he didn't make by choice. Last season, Kody broke a section of his bone called the growth plate during a football game.
Kody Reed: There for a little while we thought I wasn't ever going to be able to play again.
Jennifer Matthews: That accident brought him to Doctor Joseph Davey.
Dr. Joseph Davey: Unfortunately, he went through a big growth spurt, and because of that big change, one leg was growing at a lower rate, and they got mismatched.
Jennifer Matthews: The bones had to be seperated and this device was inserted. It's called the intramedullary skeletal kinetic distractor. It's hard to pronounce, but easy to see the benefits.
Dr. Joseph Davey: We let the bone start to heal, and as that starts to heal, we then gradually pull the bone ends apart, and when we're pulling it apart, it fills in with healing bone.
Jennifer Matthews: Before this new technology, patients had to wear bulky contraptions attached to the bones through the skin.
Dr. Joseph Davey: These gradually pull apart, and we would be able to lengthen the bone."
Jennifer Matthews: Kody says it was a lot easier to make a comeback with the new device.
Kody Reed: I'm really glad that I'm finally back in the game.
Jennifer Matthews: He's also back on equal footing with his teammates. This is Jennifer Matthews reporting.
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