original title: I went to three hospitals and took three bone age x-rays. My daughter is predicted to be only 1.54 meters tall! In the past two years, I have not taken any medicine or done any exercise, but my height has reached 1.62 meters...
According to Metropolis Express news
This summer vacation
Will you make an appointment for a height clinic for your child?
Every summer, many parents plan to take a bone age photo of their children to predict their lifetime height as adults. If the film is taken and it is said that the bone age is advanced or the predicted lifetime height is not as expected, they will be very anxious and ask the doctor whether they can prescribe some heightening medicine. If the doctor does not prescribe medicine or take bone-aging films, he will often change hospitals or doctors to find the "secret recipe for growing taller", which directly leads to overcrowding in height-growing clinics during summer vacation.
From tomorrow, primary school students will officially start their summer vacation. As a parent, are you having a headache because you canât make an appointment with a height-growing clinic expert?
Don't worry! Letâs also listen to the âexperienced storiesâ of a pair of mothers with twins, and then listen to the clinical advice from experts at the Childrenâs Hospital of Zhejiang University.
I went to three hospitals
I saw three experts
I took three bone age films
As a result, I didnât take any medicine
I didnât do any exercise
My height has exceeded our expectations
âThree years ago, like many parents, I was worried about I am also very anxious about my child's height. "Ms. He has a pair of twins, , who just turned 14 last month.
"My husband and I are both relatively short. My husband is less than 165 centimeters and I am less than 155 centimeters. I didn't care much about my child's height at first, but my husband cared more about it, which eventually made me anxious. So. Starting from the age of 10, I have to go to the height clinic almost every year.â
Ms. He said that she and her husband do not have high requirements for their childâs height. They hope that their son will not be less than 170 centimeters, and preferably 175 centimeters. I hope my daughter will not be lower than 155 cm, preferably more than 160 cm. When
turned 10, although their two children were pretty good-looking and were of average height in the class, they still took their children to the pediatric clinic of a hospital and proactively told the doctor that they wanted to take a bone age film. "The main thing is to see if the bone age and are ahead of schedule, and whether they can grow as tall as we hope." Ms. He said.
The doctor looked at the bone age film and the height of the two children. He said that this height is normal and there is no need to intervene or take medicine. They should exercise more.
Ms. He said that she was quite disappointed after hearing what the doctor said. "Of course we know that this height is normal, so we wonder if we can prescribe some medicine to ensure that the child grows to the height we expect."
When the child was almost 11 years old, I heard that a doctor in a hospital predicted the height accurately. They decisively took their children to register with this expert. "There are so many people. I went to register at 8 o'clock in the morning, but I didn't take a look until after 9 o'clock in the evening."
took a bone age photo, measured the height of the parents and children, and finally spit out a height prediction table on the computer, showing The son's lifetime height is 176.4 cm, and the daughter's lifetime height is 157.7 cm.
Ms. He said that she was very happy to see this result, which exceeded her expectations.
Half a year later, Ms. He went for a reexamination as required by the experts and took another bone age film. At that time, the son was 155.2 centimeters tall and the daughter was 146.9 centimeters tall. But this time the predicted lifetime height has dropped: the son is 175.9 centimeters tall and the daughter is 154.7 centimeters tall.
"I heard the doctor said that my son's bone age is 1.2 years older than my daughter's and my daughter's bone age is 0.5 years older, and I suddenly became anxious again." Ms. He said.
What should I do if I ask the doctor? The answer was that there is no need to take medicine, it is normal, just exercise more and eat scientifically.
"I watched the outpatient clinic for more than an hour that day. The doctor said these words to every child and did not prescribe any medicine. At that time, it felt like running away was in vain."
Considering that the child is already over 11 years old , a few days later, Ms. He decided to take the child to an expert at another hospital for "checking" to see if there was a way to "make a final sprint" to ensure that it could grow to 175 cm and 160 cm.
"I even thought about it. If there is medicine, take medicine. If there is no medicine, just take growth hormone ." But this idea was rejected by the doctor.
Recalling her experience of seeking medical treatment at the height-increasing clinic two or three years ago, Ms. He said that she was too anxious at the time and there was really no need to go to the clinic again and again. At that time, I basically didnât follow any of the things the doctor told me to pay attention to in life. The doctor said he should exercise more, so his family hung a bell on the ceiling to touch the ceiling, but it only lasted a week or two and then stopped insisting. The doctor said that the combination of meat and vegetables should be scientific, but my son likes to eat meat and is as strong as a cow. My daughter is just the opposite, very picky and lean. The doctor said to eat less snacks, but there are always snacks at home, and the children eat whatever they want without restriction. The doctor said to go to bed early at night, but since elementary school, the two children rarely go to bed before 10pm.
Two children just celebrated their 14th birthday last month. When measured, one was 174 cm and the other was 162 cm, both of which were much higher than expected.
"There are some colleagues and friends around us who are about the same height as us. Some of their sons are already in high school, some are in college, and their heights are all over 175 centimeters. After asking them, they have never seen a height clinic. , and I have never taken the heightening drug . So some time ago, my husband and I concluded that the reason why today's children can grow so tall may be related to better nutrition since childhood. As long as it is not true short . , Parents really donât need to be too anxious,â Ms. He said.
Many children have advanced bone age in the early stages of development
This is normal
Chief physician Huang Ke, deputy director of the Endocrinology Department of Zhejiang University Children's Hospital, said that usually his clinic receives about fifty or sixty patients a day. During the summer vacation, basically one day Seventy or eighty patients need to be seen. "The peak period is near the end of the summer vacation. At most, we have to see hundreds of patients a day. Basically from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., a full 12 hours, and we even have time to eat and drink. "
Chief Physician Huang Ke said that recently, the most common people in outpatient clinics are looking for height, followed by precocious puberty. Two days ago, a mother and her son came to the clinic, and the mother was a little anxious. "Doctor, is my son suffering from precocious puberty? Will he not be able to grow taller in the future?" She pulled out her son's bone age report and said that he was 11 years old this year. He had just taken a bone age film not long ago, which showed that his bone age was about 13 years old. , the local doctor said that the child's bone age was 2 years older and suspected of precocious puberty.
Director Huang Ke looked at the child's bone age film and gave the child a physical examination. The child was 150 centimeters tall and overweight, but his testicles had not yet developed and there were no signs of sexual development. He did not need drug intervention.
"Generally speaking, in the early stages of a child's development, bone age growth starts first, and then height increases rapidly, and eventually the two are equal. Bone age increases before height. In many children's early stages of development, bone age is advanced. Therefore, it cannot be measured alone. Looking at the bone age to judge the child's development may not necessarily bring good benefits at this special period," Huang Ke said.
Bone age alone cannot accurately predict height
Routine bone age testing is not recommended for children under 6 years old
"Many parents, regardless of their child's condition, ask for a bone age test when they arrive at the clinic, but not every child is necessary. Do bone age testing. In outpatient clinics, only about 2/3 of the children actually need to do bone age testing.â
Chief Physician Huang Ke said that after evaluation, he believed that he had precocious puberty. Only those with abnormalities such as shortness, short stature, or a large difference from the normal average height of the same age group need to undergo a bone age test.
"In the outpatient clinic, we have also met some parents whose children are only two or three years old, and their height development is within the normal average range. They also bring their children to measure the bone age. This is also unscientific. Because the normal bone age of children in younger age groups There is great variability in development, and the diagnostic value of bone age assessment is limited. Therefore, routine bone age testing is not recommended for children under 6 years old. "
Bone age is not the only criterion for predicting height. Bone age alone cannot be used to judge a child's lifelong height, genetics, and nutrition. , endocrine hormones, diseases, living environment and other factors will all affect lifelong height.
"Currently, bone age can be used to predict adult height, but there is no method that can accurately predict adult height, and the results vary greatly."
There are many factors that affect bone age. For example, in children with precocious puberty, the hypothalamus and pituitary gland are activated. , hormone levels rise. Under the stimulation of estrogen , bone age will progress very quickly. When bone age progresses faster than age, it will lead to height loss. In addition, the hormone levels secreted by adrenal gland will also promote the progression of bone age.
Huang Ke believes that the role of a single bone age in predicting height cannot be overstated. Although regular changes in bone age can better reflect children's physical development and growth potential, bone development is not only affected by genetic factors, but also affected by many factors such as endocrine hormones, inflammation, nutritional status, certain drugs, and stress. , resulting in the progression of bone age showing continuity, non-uniformity, and individual characteristics. Therefore, a single bone age test can only reflect the development status of the detection time node, and it is not scientific to predict future height based on this.
