In the years following WW2, many Soviet veterans were left with serious leg injuries that refused to heal. Fractures, infections, and deformities often left doctors with few options. In the city of Kurgan, surgeon Gavriil Ilizarov took a different approach. He discovered that bone could regenerate by gradually and carefully separating it over time. During the 1950s, he developed a circular metal frame that used rings and tensioned wires to slowly move bone segments apart