The growth of human height mainly goes through four stages: neonatal period, infancy, pre-puberty and adolescence, among which the infancy period from 29 days after birth to 3 years old and the adolescence period when the secondary sexual characteristics start to develop to full maturity are the two most obvious stages.
The prepubertal stage, from 3 to 12 years old, is a relatively slow growth stage, with an annual weight gain of about 2 kg and height growth of 5 to 7 cm. If the height growth at this stage is less than 4 cm per year, it indicates a growth disorder and should be treated at a regular hospital as early as possible.
Girls are generally 8 to 13 years old, with an average of 11 years old; boys are slightly later by about two years. Adolescents in puberty can increase their height by 8 to 12 cm per year and their weight by about 8 to 11 kg in two years, a phenomenon known as adolescent growth. The growth of adolescents slows down significantly after sexual maturity, and the epiphysis closes completely at the age of 18 to 20, when the best opportunity for height increase treatment has been lost.
What factors determine height?
The final height of a person is actually composed of two parts, one part accounts for about 80% of the growth before the development of youth, and another 20% is the process of rapid growth of youth development, when the person is born, it is about 50 centimeters, at the age of one it is about 75 centimeters, after that it grows about 5 centimeters per year, until the rapid jump of youth development, this jump varies from person to person, most boys Most boys grow to about 30 centimeters, and girls are about 25 centimeters, which is the growth of youth development.
The degree of height growth has a lot to do with bone age. Bone age is not dependent on age and growth rate changes, but is an independent growth indicator, representing the maturity of human growth. If the bone age is greater than the height age, regardless of how young the child is, it means that the bones have a shorter time to grow and predicts a shorter stature in the future.
Weight reflects the nutritional status of the body. Under a certain height standard, if the weight exceeds the standard weight, it means that the body does not lack nutrition, even if the supplementation will not have an impact on height; if the weight is lower than the standard weight, it means a lack of nutrition, and at this time, the height can be promoted by supplementing nutrition. However, do not blindly use drugs or supplements to prevent taking steroid hormones by mistake. Although such drugs can increase height in the short term, they can cause children to end up short because they promote epiphyseal closure at the same time.
Deficiencies of specific nutrients can prevent the growth of specific tissues. For example, zinc deficiency can cause impaired growth, vitamin A deficiency can make bones shorter and thicker, vitamin C deficiency can lead to defective interstitial bone cell formation and brittleness, and vitamin D deficiency can cause insufficient bone mineralization and bone softening. Therefore, to ensure that children get enough energy and nutrients, the diet structure must be balanced.
Currently, there are many treatments available, but there is a high risk of broken bones to increase height Improper use of height enhancing drugs inhibits growth, what is the correct and appropriate treatment? How can I find the right and appropriate treatment?
According to the national or a certain region, an average height is calculated through a large sample, and children who are two standard deviations above the average height are called taller or taller, and those who are two standard deviations below this value are called dwarf children, which is actually a distribution curve. Within this curve, all children are called normal children. There are only those who are taller or shorter. The dwarfism we want to treat is actually at the last two standard deviations outside of the normal distribution. These are determined by the clinician’s special laboratory diagnosis and his special measure.
In children who are not nutritionally deficient, the main way to treat height gain is through hormonal regulation. Hormonal regulation includes regulation of insulin, thyroid hormones, sex hormones, glucocorticoids and growth factors. [When do I need to check growth hormone?]
Insulin can promote growth either directly by transducing through insulin receptors and post-receptor information pathways or indirectly by acting on other growth-promoting regulatory substances. Thyroid hormone has effects on both bone and cartilage. In thyroid hormone deficiency, bone maturation is delayed and growth rate is reduced, resulting in short stature, while in thyroid hormone excess, bone conversion and growth rate are accelerated, promoting earlier bone maturation, also resulting in eventual short stature. Physiological doses of glucocorticoids will promote rapid synthesis of growth hormone, but long-term overdose of glucocorticoids will inhibit growth.
Since growth hormone is mainly secreted at night, and the secretion of growth hormone during ripe sleep accounts for more than half of the whole day’s secretion, children must develop the habit of going to bed early.
Children with short stature should first go to a regular hospital to clarify whether they are normal children with short stature or due to chronic diseases, growth hormone deficiency or malnutrition. For children with normal short stature, jumping rope, jumping and other jumping exercises are good choices to promote growth.