Trivia: In the Gattaca world, people like Vincent who fake their genetic profile are known as borrowed ladders. This is a reference to the double helix, or ladder shape, of DNA.
Trivia: One of the biggest themes in this film is DNA and how it can be used (and misused) to give information about people. It's interesting that the name 'Gattaca' is spelled using only the letters which stand for the four nucleotide bases which comprise DNA: guanine, adenine, thymine, and cytosine. The word GATTACA looks like a short sequence of DNA.
Trivia: The staircase in the house of the real Jerome Morrows is actually a resemblance of a DNA structure. Similar to Watson and Crick's model, except for the fact that the staircase has a right-handed turn. The DNA helix is a left-handed turn.
Answer: The leg bones are fractured completely across, at a location between the rings of the device. Thereafter, while the bones are knitting back together, the device is periodically adjusted to drag the bones away from each other a fraction of an inch. The bones continue to grow toward each other to close the gap, gradually lengthening. It is an astoundingly painful way to add height.
Rooster of Doom