Patient's question:
Energetic, small appetite, normal bowel movements, frequent urination, slightly underweight unclearDoctor's answer:
Whether height can be satisfactory depends on several factors. The first is genetic factors, accounting for 70%. Additionally, it depends on other conditions, including exercise, nutrition, environment, and social factors, etc. To help children grow taller, parents should pay attention to the following points:1. Do not miss the growth spurt period
During the puberty of children and adolescents, when is the fastest height growth? Research confirms that the peak height growth for most Han Chinese children is around the age of 12 for girls and 14 for boys. Over 90% of girls experience the fastest height growth between the ages of 11 and 13, while boys experience it between 13 and 15. To help children grow taller, parents should pay special attention to their nutrition and exercise during the growth spurt.
2. Focus on nutritional supplementation
Nutrition is key to children's physical growth. The energy, protein, and amino acids required for normal physical growth must be supplied by food, primarily meat, eggs, beans, and legumes. Bone formation also requires sufficient amounts of calcium, phosphorus, and trace amounts of manganese and iron. Insufficient calcium intake and vitamin D deficiency can lead to inadequate bone mineralization. Vitamin A deficiency can cause bones to shorten and thicken, while vitamin C deficiency can lead to defects in the interstitial formation of bone cells, making them brittle. These can all affect bone growth. In most families, a balanced diet with both meat and vegetables should provide comprehensive and sufficient nutrition. Parents should avoid letting their children develop picky eating habits and excessive snacking, which can hinder the intake of essential nutrients.
3. Do not neglect physical exercise
Physical exercise can strengthen the body's metabolic processes, accelerate blood circulation, promote the secretion of growth hormone, and accelerate bone tissue growth, all of which are beneficial for height increase. The following exercises can help increase height and are worth trying.
- Swinging on a bar: Use a single bar or doorframe. The height should be such that your toes just touch the ground when hanging. Grip the bar slightly wider than shoulder-width, bring your feet together, and then swing your body forward and backward. Keep the amplitude small and the duration short. Practice is best done in the morning, with your body as relaxed as possible, hanging for 20 seconds. Young men should do 10–15 repetitions, while young women should do 2–6.
- Jumping to touch height: Use both hands to reach a pre-set object, such as a tree branch, basketball hoop, or ceiling. Jump with both feet, do 30 repetitions. Rest briefly, then jump with one foot at a time, using the same method.
- Ball games: During basketball, actively compete for rebounds and jump to intercept balls. In volleyball, try to jump as much as possible and perform more spikes and blocks. In soccer, practice jumping to head the ball.
- Jumping exercises: Include walking single-leg jumps, frog jumps, triple jumps, multi-jump steps, and vertical jumps.
4. Do not forget to create a good living environment
Abnormalities in the nervous system can also affect children's physical growth. For example, if parents are divorced, the relationship between the child and guardian is abnormal, or the child is often abused, or exposed to other severe stimuli, their growth rate may gradually slow, causing their height to fall below the normal range for their age and gender. Short stature can further exacerbate the child's self-esteem issues, as the psychological and social stimuli they experience can inhibit the transmission of nerve impulses from the cerebral cortex to the hypothalamus, thereby suppressing the pituitary gland's secretion of growth hormone. If the child's environment improves, their growth rate can return to normal.
5. Do not forget the active prevention and treatment of chronic diseases
Chronic diseases during childhood and adolescence should be actively treated. Long-term conditions such as chronic infections, chronic hepatitis, chronic nephritis, asthma, heart disease, and anemia can all affect growth and development. Genetic bone diseases, such as osteochondrodysplasia, can also limit bone growth.
How to help children grow taller and stronger?
"Mom, it's all your fault I'm so short!" Jiaxiang, a first-grader, has been sitting in the front rows since elementary school. Seeing his height increasingly lagging behind his classmates, he angrily complains to his mom. "Why didn't you drink more milk and exercise more?" his mom replies irritably.
During the growth phase, parents are not only concerned about their children's health but also about whether they will grow tall and strong. In pediatric clinics and online health consultation websites, parents often anxiously ask, "Doctor, why isn't my child growing taller?" or "Is drinking more milk helpful?" Some impatient parents even search for "growth" remedies, hoping their children will grow a few centimeters taller. However, others believe that height is determined by genetics, and nutrition and exercise play little role.
So, is a person's height predetermined by nature, or can it be achieved through effort? What can children do during their development to stand out in height?
Growth rate as seen through bone age
Gradual height increase during growth is the result of bone development and primarily occurs in the lower limbs and spine. The growth of the lower limbs is formed by the growth plates of the femur and tibia. Growth plates are located at both ends of the bones and are stimulated by growth hormone secreted by the pituitary gland, continuously producing cartilage. New cartilage is calcified to form hard bone, causing the bone to lengthen and widen. From birth to one year old, children experience the fastest growth in their lives, after which the rate gradually slows until puberty, when sex hormones and growth hormone interact, causing rapid increases in height and weight.
Dr. Wang Zhihong, a (attending physician) in the Department of Orthopedics at National Taiwan University Hospital, points out that assessing height progress requires considering "bone age" (the age of bone development) alongside chronological age. Some early-maturing children have bone age that advances faster than their actual age, making them appear taller than their peers initially. However, this does not necessarily mean they will have a higher adult height. A person's maximum height is determined by when all growth plates close. If the growth plates close, it means the bones have matured, and bone growth will no longer occur, nor will height increase.
Factors influencing height
The primary determinant of a person's height is genetics. "The correlation between parents' height and children's height is as high as 80%, with each parent influencing it by half," Dr. Wang says. Therefore, if both parents are short, their child's height is unlikely to be particularly tall. However, exceptions do exist.
Guidance
Sufficient and balanced nutrition is absolutely key to helping children grow taller. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), essential nutrients for growing tall and strong include protein, calcium, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin D, magnesium, and zinc. Protein is the basic substance for building and repairing muscles, bones, and tissues. A lack of protein can lead to delayed development and atrophy of bones and muscles. Animal-based foods like meat, seafood, and milk are complete protein sources, while plant-based sources include beans, grains, and nuts. Calcium is the raw material for bone formation, promoting growth and increasing bone density. Drinking two glasses of milk daily is an excellent way for children to accumulate bone strength. Vitamin D is another nutrient that strengthens bones. In addition to being obtained from milk and fish like salmon and tuna, the body can produce vitamin D by exposing itself to sunlight for 10–15 minutes daily. Zinc is especially important during infancy. Dutch research shows that insufficient zinc intake during infancy can lead to developmental issues. Additionally, international studies indicate that adequate zinc intake in children can reduce the occurrence of diarrhea. Foods rich in zinc include meat, liver, seafood (especially oysters), eggs, and wheat germ.
Lifestyle care: Which exercises are beneficial?
What kind of exercise helps the body grow taller? It is often heard that some children join school basketball clubs to grow taller. Does playing basketball alone make the body grow taller? Simply put, exercises that stimulate appetite, promote sleep, and apply a certain degree of longitudinal pressure to the bones are beneficial for height increase. Specific examples include jogging, jumping rope, dancing, basketball, and volleyball. However, many children in basketball and volleyball teams are already tall. If you force a child who dislikes these sports to participate in them solely for height increase, you are mistaken. Emotional stability is also important for growth, so let your child choose sports they enjoy. However, overly strenuous exercises are better suited for high school students whose growth has already stopped.
Bone development to some extent comes from longitudinal pressure, but excessive pressure (e.g., weightlifting) can hinder longitudinal bone growth.
Exercises that help increase height
Exercises that are good for height increase: Volleyball, basketball, ballet, stretching exercises, jumping rope, and jogging.
Exercises that are not good for height increase: Weightlifting, excessive exercise, and highly strenuous activities (e.g., marathons).
How can short children grow taller?
For short children, except for those with height issues caused by diseases that require medical treatment, most can achieve their full growth potential through effort. How? Simply put, adjust diet and lifestyle under the guidance of doctors and sports professionals, and persist in special physical training.
Diet and lifestyle adjustments
1. Reasonably regulate diet, avoid picky eating and overeating, ensuring both adequate nutrition and moderate restraint. Avoid smoking and drinking alcohol.
2. Maintain a regular lifestyle, get enough sleep, and use a hard mattress with a pillow lower than 5 cm.
3. Pay attention to personal health, prevent diseases, and seek early treatment if sick. Read books on short stature research and growth development to increase knowledge and guide your actions with science.
4. Maintain physical and mental health, enrich cultural and recreational activities, and keep a stable mood, as this is beneficial for growth.
Recent studies have shown that sustained 1–2-hour moderate physical exercise can significantly increase the level of growth hormone in the body within a certain period. As the level of growth hormone in the blood increases, it activates the growth plates of tubular bones, thereby increasing height. It should be noted that neither low-intensity exercises (e.g., jogging, slow swimming) nor high-intensity exercises (e.g., marathon running, long-distance skiing) will increase height. Low-intensity exercises lack sufficient stimulation, while high-intensity exercises can severely weaken the body (e.g., completing 1,000 jumps in a day or excessive weightlifting with heavy barbells can even hinder long bone growth). Success depends on the correct combination of different exercises. Some scholars believe that long-term activities like jumping, hanging, and swimming can promote height increase. We believe that short children and adolescents with open epiphyseal plates, if deemed healthy by doctors and without other medical contraindications, should bravely start special physical training to increase height. However, it is important to note that training should progress gradually, especially in the early stages, to avoid overexertion. Pay attention to self-perception, and consult doctors and physical education teachers if discomfort occurs.
Growth-promoting exercises for a straighter posture
Warm-up exercises: Move all joints, keep the back straight, lean forward, and swing both arms straight upward.
Walking: Swing arms widely and walk powerfully forward.
Running: Small-step running, placing both fists on the shoulders, and rotating elbows forward; fast run and jump 25–50 meters, repeat 4–6 times, with brief rest after each.
Stretching: Raise both arms, stretch in all directions, and rise on the balls of the feet, repeating 6–8 times with brief rest in between.
Bar exercises: Hanging (20 seconds, 1 minute), turning the body right and left while feet are together; swinging the body forward and backward; swinging clockwise or counterclockwise.
Jumping pull-ups: Squat with a straight back, jump up to grab the bar, and use the momentum to do pull-ups (bar height and grip distance vary by person). Repeat at least 6–8 times.
Jumping: Jump upward gradually or to a set height; jump from a slightly higher place downward; squat jump. Perform 30–60 jumps in different positions, using forceful downward pushes with both feet. Choose exercises but start with the prescribed number and gradually increase intensity. Rest briefly after each set to steady breathing and relax limbs. After completing the entire routine, lie flat on the floor, tense back and buttock muscles slightly, and arch the back. Practice at least three times a week for 35–45 minutes. Persistence will yield results.
Daily exercises to increase height
Many height-increasing drugs and devices on the market are expensive but not necessarily effective. The best way to increase height is to strengthen exercise. Below are some effective methods for height increase that teenagers can try.
Hanging method: Grasp the bar with both hands, keeping the body suspended with toes just touching the ground. Then perform pull-ups. Boys can do 10–15 repetitions daily, while girls can do 2–5. The key is to exhale during pull-ups and inhale while slowly lowering. After exercise, walk around to relax the muscles. When hands are relaxed, clench fists, place them on the chest, then release fingers, close eyes, relax facial muscles, and lie down, relaxing back and arm muscles. In short, learn to exert maximum effort and relax to the fullest. After practicing the hanging method for a while, you can progress to "expanding hanging" by hanging for 20 seconds, then attaching 5 kg sandbags to each leg, hanging for another 20 seconds; next, secure a belt to the bar, hang for 15 seconds, and then wear a 10 kg iron sand vest, hanging for another 15 seconds. However, time and weight are flexible and can vary by person.
Jumping method: Jump with both hands to touch branches, basketball hoops, or ceilings. Do 10 repetitions per set, jumping upward for 5–7 seconds each time, with 4–5 minutes of rest between sets. Try to keep the body in the most extended position. Additionally, regularly participate in basketball, volleyball, and swimming. During basketball and volleyball, jump vigorously and actively compete for high balls. Since jumping is the main training content, aim for about 200 jumps daily.
Traction method: Stand on a hill 20–30 meters high, run down quickly while accelerating, then lean forward on the floor. Two partners help: one grips the wrists, the other grips the lower calves, and both pull the body in opposite directions 2–3 times, each time for 12–15 minutes, repeating 6–10 times. This series of exercises helps correct body defects like short legs, spinal curvature, flat feet, and "O" legs, promotes bone growth, and adjusts nervous and endocrine functions as well as various physiological functions to achieve optimal performance, thereby increasing height. Most importantly, be serious and persistent.