Height increase

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Height increase is the term used for the lengthening of bones, or improvements in posture, in order to make a patient taller, or to appear taller. Having a short stature is seen by some to bring social exclusion, and may hamper one's ability to play certain sports, like basketball, and so those who wish to be taller often use both medical and non-medical methods to add to their height.

[edit] Height increase methods

Human growth hormones (HGH) can be used to increase one's height, as long as they are administered before the end of puberty. They travel through the blood and stimulate the liver to produce a protein called "insulin-like growth factor #1" (IGF-1). IGF-1 helps the cartilage cells located at the ends of long bones, called the growth plates, to multiply, which is where bone growth occurs. During puberty, this leads to growth in the length of the bones and increases one's overall height. By end of puberty, however, the cartilage at the ends of most long bones is converted to bone - this is known as the "closing" of the growth plates. Any subsequent action of HGH or IGF-1 usually cannot increase the length of bones.

If the growth plates have not yet fused, growth hormone can be administered through daily injections. Since this can be tricky (exactly the correct dose must be administered, and it is difficult to tell when to start and stop, and what side effects to watch out for) it must be done under close supervision of a pediatric endocrinologist. It may also be possible to turn off or turn down activity of the ovaries or testes while administering the growth hormone, providing a longer window of opportunity for growth before the epiphyseal plates fuse. This temporary turn-off is done with gonadotropin-hormone releasing hormone agonists such as Lupron or Synarel.

Another method of growth increase is more drastic. The long bones in the legs can be sawn, securing the ends of the bones in place, slightly apart from one another, using special hardware, and "turning the screws" at prescribed intervals to further separate the ends of the bones and allow more bone to grow in between. This is a long and painful road, but can be extremely successful. [1]