Health Tips

Could you please tell me how to gain height? I am turning 17 in June and I’m only 5ft 4in; it hurts my self-confidence and makes me extremely depressed. I’m not just a late bloomer because I’m pretty much through puberty now. Help.

Answer

Although I can understand your desire to gain height, I am unable to offer you any self-help techniques for this purpose.

At 5ft 4in tall, you are around the tenth centile for your age and height. In other words, if one hundred boys of your age were taken randomly and lined up from tallest to smallest, there would be around ten smaller than you.

One's height and anatomical features however, depend upon inherited factors from your parents and short stature is most commonly related to these alone. Have a chat with your parents about your worries and find out how they fared at your age.

You still have a number of growing years, but if one or other of them are well below average height, you may have already achieved your adult height.

If you add 12.5cm or 5in to your mother's height and then calculate the average height of your parents you can obtain a rough estimate of the sort of height you might be expected to achieve.

If either of your parents experienced a significant delay in growth, then it is possible the same thing is happening to you.

Growth hormone is produced by the pituitary gland at the front of the brain, just above the back of the nose. It is one of a number of trophic hormones (Greek trophe = nourishment) which regulate the growth and activity of the body as a whole or of other hormone secreting [endocrine] glands.

Growth hormone is indicated for the long-term treatment of children who have growth failure due to a lack of growth hormone.

In adults, growth hormone is indicated for replacement therapy for pronounced growth hormone deficiency, which has been confirmed by two different special tests.

I suggest that you arrange to see your doctor so as to ensure that there are no reasons for your below average height that may require treatment.

Dr John Pillinger