Night Listening | Can you still grow taller after adulthood? The key lies in the closure of the bone line!

Some time ago, a trending search "15-year-old boy finally reaches 1.53 meters tall" attracted people's attention. The topic of height has always been the focus of adolescent children and parents, and even many adult friends hope to grow taller. After all, as the saying goes, "At 23, you will grow taller; at 25, you will grow taller." So can you continue to grow taller after adulthood? Don't worry, let's first understand the human growth process.

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During the development of human skeleton, the growth of height mainly depends on the growth of legs. This is because the bones of the legs develop faster and grow more concentratedly than other parts of the upper limbs.

Take our femur, or thigh bone, for example. It is shaped like a dumbbell, with round and thick ends and a thinner middle. The slightly rounded parts at the two ends are the epiphysis, and the thinner part in the middle of the dumbbell is the shaft. The structure that makes our legs grow longer is at the junction of the epiphysis and the shaft, which is the part where the dumbbell's iron ball touches the handle.

There is a layer of cartilage tissue distributed here. If you take an X-ray, you can see a clear line there, which is what doctors often call the "epiphyseal line." The cells in this layer of cartilage tissue are very active and can divide continuously. The cells near the backbone will continue to calcify and become real bones, so that the leg bones will become longer and longer.

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However, the above are all about minors. Usually by the age of 18 to 20, this layer of soft tissue will completely lose the ability to make bones grow. If an adult takes an X-ray, you can see that the epiphysis is seamless and the epiphyseal line can no longer be seen.

Therefore, most people cannot continue to grow taller after adulthood. If you want to look taller, you can exercise and stretch more. People with good posture will naturally look taller!

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Review丨Zhang Qinghua, Chief Physician of Orthopedics, Shougang Hospital