On an x-ray, growth plates look like dark lines at the ends of the bones. At the end of growth, when the cartilage completely hardens into bone, the dark line will no longer be visible on an x-ray. At that point growth plates are considered closed.
Pediatric orthopedic surgeons can estimate when growth will be completed by determining a child's “bone age.” They do this by taking an x-ray of the left hand and wrist to see which growth plates are still open. The bone age may be different from the child's actual age.
On average, females stop growing around age 13 to 15, and boys around age 15 to 17. Obviously many children continue to gain some height into their late teen years, but the vast majority of growth is over by these ages.
As kids grow, the growth plates harden into solid bone. A growth plate that has completely hardened into solid bone is a closed growth plate. After a growth plate closes, the bones are no longer growing.
Increasing your height after 18 is not possible, even through nutrition and exercise, because the growth plates stop growing. The growth plates (epiphyseal plates) are present at the end of long bones.
During the terminal phase of differentiation, cartilage is replaced by blood vessels and organized bone tissue, and once chondrocytes have died, the longitudinal growth of the bone ceases and the growth plate closes.
The growth plates fuse in an ascending order, from the foot to the wrist, and females mature significantly earlier than males.
As a child grows, the shafts get longer, and bone gradually replaces the cartilage epiphyses. Through the growing years, a layer of cartilage (the growth plate) separates each epiphyses from the bone shaft. Between 17 and 25 years, normal growth stops. The development and union of separate bone parts is complete.
Although some men may continue to grow in their 20s, most men's growth plates are closed by 21 years. Hence, it is unlikely for men to grow after 21 years, with some exceptions. In a healthy growth pattern, your bone increases in length due to the growth plates in the bone called epiphyses.
It is suggested that treatment with aromatase inhibitors, alone or in combination with rh-GH, may also be useful in children with constitutional short stature in order to delay epiphyseal closure and improve the final height.
With a CT scan a doctor may be able to see whether cartilage in the growth plate has started to harden into bone—an indication that the growth plate may be closing too early as a result of injury. A CT scan may also provide a better view than an X-ray of small bone fractures that could be causing your child's symptoms.
A major growth spurt happens at the time of puberty, usually between 8 to 13 years of age in girls and 10 to 15 years in boys. Puberty lasts about 2 to 5 years.
Changes in Boys
They tend to grow most quickly between ages 12 and 15. The growth spurt of boys is, on average, about 2 years later than that of girls. By age 16, most boys have stopped growing, but their muscles will continue to develop.
Growth in height is driven by elongation of long bones due to chondrogenesis at the epiphyseal plates, also known as the growth plate. This process results from chondrocyte proliferation, hypertrophy, and extracellular matrix secretion.
If the pituitary gland doesn't make enough hormones, normal growth slows down or stops. Kids and teens with GH deficiency grow less than 2 inches (5 centimeters) a year. GH deficiency happens if the pituitary gland or hypothalamus is damaged or doesn't work as it should.
You may have heard rumors that weight training can stunt growth. The concern is that weight training can injure the areas of the bone that grow (the growth plates) and limit stature. There is no evidence that high-impact sports like gymnastics, soccer, football, and basketball harm growth plates.
The growth plate is the area of tissue near the ends of long bones in children and teens that determines the future length and shape of the mature bone. Each long bone has at least two growth plates, one at each end, and they are longer than they are wide.
“Any child with bone age more than 2 years advanced or delayed, or whose growth pattern deviates from their genetic potential should bereferred to endocrinology for assessment,” she noted.
If a growth plate injury doesn't heal properly, it could result in a crooked arm, a leg that is shorter than the other, or another problem that could affect mobility throughout their life.
Most people will reach their peak bone mass between the ages of 25 and 30. By the time we reach age 40, we slowly begin to lose bone mass. We can, however, take steps to avoid severe bone loss over time. For most of us, bone loss can be significantly slowed through proper nutrition and regular exercise.