This is another interesting idea that is quite original which I personally have thought about years ago. This method appears to give a person only a few extra (2-4) centimeters, but there seems to be a market for it at least in certain countries. I once stated that I am willing to look at any technique, method, or idea that is out there but I will try to make an assessment of the feasibility and possible effectiveness of the method to see if it work. I found out about the idea originally from the Make Me Taller boards. You can find the complete discussion and posts about this new method to add a few centimeters HERE.

The original website it was found from can be reach by clicking HERE but the content is in spanish so a translator was used to translate the article, which happens to be really short.

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A dream of many men and women is to be higher, but sometimes it becomes necessary to access a job, which calls for a minimum size. Is solved because Macrolane is injected in the heel that is long lasting between 12-18 months, or permanently with Bioalcamid Both are made in the same way, with a local anesthetic injection and the injection of the prosthesis, depending on the we can increase number of 2-4cm and dysmetria up to 6 cm. Sometimes must be made several times to gradually increase the thickness of the heel to “grow. ” In about 30 minutes the session is done and we should not get rest.
No note or to touch or stuck walking prosthesis that heel pad
The price depends on the prosthesis wear. If using Macrolane the price is 1000 € the session by standing in the case of Bioalcamid € 1200 per session and foot. The session can reach 2 cm more in height. For a 2 nd or subsequent session must wait 3-4 weeks and by increasing the pad height increases up to 6 cm.
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This substance was discovered in the early 30’s by Karl Meyer and his colleague John Palmer, two German pharmacists. Used primarily in the field of cosmetic surgery but also has therapeutic uses in treating physical problems such as osteoarthritis of the knee.Cosmetic surgery doctors say that aesthetics and design of the body are very personal and they only help people to feel comfortable with himself, and this is achieved, among other techniques due to hyaluronic acid.These latest generation implants used in breast, buttocks and feet are the safest. A woman tells how she put on a hyaluronic acid implant in their heels to wear high heels without getting sore feet. It is just one example of the many applications of this new trend of cosmetic surgery.

Me: What seems to be mainly talked about on the boards is whether the implants is truly permanent or only temporary. One of the moderators of the board adds

It looks perfect  for cases of flat feet, dysmetria of legs, if just need only 2-3 cm for get job (police, military, pilots y etc) and in some specials cases. but I don´t see it very well for LL. I have a few doubts. I just follow to logic.1. When women wear heels (even only few hours at day)  that influences musculoskeletal system and causes pain of muscle, back, hips, ankles and etc. The resulting additional load to the all body.Lengthening of tibias not change position of joints and generally does not bring any changes that may seriously affect the whole body. So I guess that before make this type of treatment would be better to consult it with orthopedists.2.if you put silicon for get 4-5cm high, what  kind of shoes can be used? (I see this question silly but this problem may appear in future)Also would be interesting to know  about Contraindications. Im trying to find more information about this method or posts of people who already made. But for now don’t see nothing.

Me: For the contact information for the clinic if you are interested, it is below

The treatment can be completed with two different types of material: Macrolane (12 to 18 months)

Macrolane™ is a safe and highly effective treatment that uses gel containing biodegradable hyaluronic acid that occurs naturally in the body to fill out your skin and lubricate joints, giving extra volume and support where you need it.It has been used most often for breast augmentation, where it helps to swell the tissue in the breast to increase the size. 100ml of Macrolane will provide an increase of one cup size. The maximum that can be used in breast enhancement is 150ml.

With every one of these types of post I do where I talk about another method or idea scientists or innovators come up to increase the human body’s length, I feel that I have to give some type of final message and thoughts on the method. With this idea of putting implants in one’s feet to gain say up to 1 extra inch in height, I would have to say that most people who consider it are either doing it because they are trying to just get to some height requirement for professional reasons often because the job description requires it. If one is seriously considering it for themselves for cosmetic reasons, I would suggest to not go through with it. Most people who are dissatisfied with their height often want large changes like 4,6 or even 1 foot of extra height. For someone to decide to go under the knife just to get a foreign synthetic chemical substance injected just below their skin so that they can look 2-3 centimeters just seems very excessive and might I used the word “crazy” for me. those type of people have other issues or personal eccentricities that they should probably deal with first before deciding to increase their height.

Maybe it is just something I don’t understand and someone else might want to go through with it. We each have our own lives to live and we make the choice we think are the best for us. I try to provide the most legitimate, and honest resources and techniques I have found to you and you are the person who has to decide what to do with it.

Since I talk so about about the biggest and tallest people and how to grow taller, it may seem like I only prefer people who are big but that is not true. I find any humans who have extreme bodies interesting. To follow in the spirit of the previous post which was only an introductory look at dwarfism, achondroplasia, and growth-hormone deficiency I wanted to answer the question “Who is the shortest person in the world, at least right now?”

The title seems to go to Chandra Bahadur Dangi (age 72) of Nepal at the current time who stands only at 0.546 m (1 ft 9 in) tall. He broke the record of Gul Mohammed, the shortest adult human whose height was 22.5 inches. He was awarded the title of shortest adult human ever recorded after measuring his height three times in 24 hours. Guinness official Craig Glenday presented Dangi with two certificates for being the world’s shortest living man and the world’s shortest person recorded in Guinness’ 57-year history. Dangi takes the shortest man record from Junrey Balawing of the Philippines, who is 23.5 inches (60 centimeters) tall.

Chandra suffers from primordial dwarfism, which results in a smaller body size in all stages of life beginning from before birth. More specifically, primordial dwarfism is a diagnostic category including specific types of profoundly proportionate dwarfism, in which individuals are extremely small for their age. So the condition results in some of the most extreme cases of dwarfism which many of the former world’s smallest person suffered from as well.

To learn more about Chandra you can go to the resources available, Huffington Post, CBS , and Daily Mail UK

I have this personal philosophy that for one to be able to reach any goal or get to any destination, it is important to study the entire range of the subject of study. I also focus a lot on what could be the opposite result or effect of the process or system being analyzed.

For example, If I wanted to learn how to success in business, not only will I study and learn from the best of the best who made their millions or even billions, I would try to study those individuals who failed and failed spectacularly bad, and learn form their experiences and mistakes to do the exact opposite of their actions or avoid those actions. This is why I believe that to learn all the methods and way to possibly increase height, it is important to also learn about the different ways one’s height can be decreased, stunted, or lost.

We had previously talked about how one will usually lose height as one gets older HERE, whether Coffee and Caffeine will stunt one’s growth HERE, and there was many mentions of how one’s height can be lost if one does not get the right nutrition and exercise. Now we wanted to focus on natural conditions (i.e. genetic disorders) that develops into short stature for people.

When talking about people of short stature, there are a few terms used in the public lexicon which apparently have different meanings each. There is dwarf, midget, pygmy, and little people. The terms midget is now considered offensive and we will not use it. The term little people is a term used for political correctness in social science arguments so we won’t use that term either. We will focus on the biological term Dwarf in this post. Dwarfs are people who suffer from dwarfism (real clear definition there). Dwarfism is sometimes defined as an adult height of less than 147 cm (58 inches) by the National Institute Of Health. However we must be very careful with that definition because dwarfism can only be used to talk about a pathology and disorder since short stature is not defined or classified as a disorder. The reason is because of the fact that pygmies are people who have through evolution evolved to their relative small sizes for fitness reasons but they do not suffer from any form of physical or genetic maladies as defined by the current medical literature.

From the Wikipedia Article on Dwarfism found HERE.

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“Dwarfism can be caused by about 200 distinct medical conditions, such that the symptoms and characteristics of individual people with dwarfism vary greatly… Disproportionate dwarfism is characterized by one or more body parts being relatively large or small in comparison to those of an average-sized adult, with growth variations in specific areas being apparent. In cases of proportionate dwarfism, the body appears normally proportioned, but is unusually small. ”

Disproportionate dwarfism is characterized by one or more body parts being unusually large or small compared to the rest of the body. In achondroplasia one’s trunk is usually of average size, one’s limbs being proportionately shorter, one’s head usually larger, and a prominent forehead. In at least one case achondroplasia resulted in a significantly smaller trunk and head. Facial features are often affected and individual body parts may have problems associated with them. Orthopedic problems can result from multiple conditions such as diastrophic dysplasia and pseudoachondroplasia.

Proportionate dwarfism is marked by body parts being proportional but smaller. Height is significantly below average and there may be long periods without any significant growth. Sexual development is often delayed or impaired into adulthood. Unlike disproportionate dwarfism, in some cases intellectual disability may be a part of proportionate dwarfism. The overall stunted growth can lead to impaired intelligence when compared to physical age.

Physical maleffects of malformed bones vary according to the specific disease. Many involve joint pain caused by abnormal bone alignment, or from nerve compression. Early degenerative joint disease, exaggerated lordosis or scoliosis, and constriction of spinal cord or nerve roots can cause pain and disability. Reduced thoracic size can restrict lung growth and reduce pulmonary function. Some forms of dwarfism are associated with disordered function of other organs, such as the brain or liver, sometimes severely enough to be more of an impairment than the unusual bone growth.

Mental effects also vary according to the specific underlying syndrome. In most cases of skeletal dysplasia, such as achondroplasia, mental function is not impaired in any way. However, there are syndromes which can affect the cranial structure and growth of the brain, severely impairing mental capacity. Unless the brain is directly affected by the underlying disorder, there is little to no chance of mental impairment that can be attributed to dwarfism.

The most common form of dwarfism is achondroplasia. Achondroplasia is a bone-growth disorder responsible for 70% of dwarfism cases. With achondroplasia, one’s limbs are proportionately shorter than one’s trunk (abdominal area), with a larger head than average and characteristic facial features. Conditions in humans characterized by disproportional body parts are typically caused by one or more genetic disorders in bone or cartilage development. Extreme shortness in humans with proportional body parts usually has a hormonal cause, such as growth-hormone deficiency, once called pituitary dwarfism.

There is no single treatment for dwarfism. Individual differences, such as bone-growth disorders, sometimes can be treated through surgery, some hormone disorders can be treated through medication, and by hormone replacement therapy; this treatment must be done before the child’s’ growth plates fuse. Individual accommodations, such as specialized furniture, are often used by people with dwarfism. Many support groups provide services to aid individuals with dwarfism in facing the challenges of an ableist society.

Dwarfism is a highly visible condition and often carries negative connotations in society. Because of their unusual height, people with dwarfism often work as spectacles in entertainment and are often portrayed with stereotypes. For a person with dwarfism, heightism can lead to ridicule in childhood and discrimination in adulthood.

Short stature can be inherited without any coexisting disease. Short stature in the absence of a medical condition is not generally considered dwarfism. For example, a short man and a short woman with average health will tend to produce children who are also short and with average health. While short parents tend to produce short children, persons with dwarfism may produce children of average height, if the cause of their dwarfism is not genetically transmissible or if the individual does not pass on the genetic variation.

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Me: I would say that this is a good introduction to the study of dwarfism, all the main types there are, and what affect they have on the body. There will be more analysis and study on dwarfism in the future, specifically a look at achondroplasia and growth-hormone deficiency.

 

When we try to find really tall people in history, we get a lot of tall tales (pun intended) and legends. You can’t seem to go to any ethnic group without hearing some form of story of their relations and association with giants.

When Yao Ming first came to the public eye in more than a decade ago in 2002, there was a rumor gong around that he had a sister who even taller than him. Bouncer and occasional actor Calvin Lane who is also 7′ 6″ claims that he has two siblings who are even bigger than him. (Resource) Maybe he meant in age, but probably not over 7′ 6″ in height since if they were really that tall, they would already have been found out.

We get stories told by Native Americans about Red- Haired Giants from the Southwest US area (resource 1, resource 2, resource 3, resource 4). They were called Paiutes named the giants Si-Te-Cah they were supposed to be up to 12 feet tall and ate humans. Interesting enough, one of the resources show that a mummified body was unearthed where the bones measured out to be around 6′ 6″ which can actually validate these myths. Not 12 feet but at a height which in those days might have been true giants.

Hell, if we go to the first resource link the guy who wrote the article says that his mother claims his grandfather was much taller than him or his father, and that his great-grandfather was taller than his grandfather.

How is it that these stories about tall ancestors and distance relatives only get bigger and bigger like the classic fish stories about the size of “the one that got away”. As the years move on, that length of the lost fish gets bigger and bigger until we are left to wonder where to draw the line between reality and pure imagination.

Which brings us to quite possible the most well known stories of giant in human history, not counting the Biblical story of Goliath. Modern anthropologists and researchers seemed to have calculated out the height of Goliath to be more like 6′ 9″ instead of the 9 foot tall claim made by the religious writers (Resource). That would also seem very reasonable. The stories I am talking about are the legends claimed by Europeans explorers who went by Patagonia in the 16th and 17th century.

If we even go to the wikipedia article on Patagonia (located HERE) we find out the name Patagonia itself is a name the Spaniards used to describe the large size of the natives they saw. Magellan is probably the most famous explorer to land on Patagonia and he made some interesting observations.

It is now believed the Patagons were actually Tehuelches with an average height of 180 cm (~5′11″) compared to the 155 cm (~5′1″) average for Spaniards of the time.

The excerpt taken from Wikipedia

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Patagonian giants: early European perceptions

The first European explorers of Patagonia observed that the indigenous people in the region were taller than the average Europeans of the time, prompting some of them to believe that Patagonians were giants.

According to Antonio Pigafetta, one of the Magellan expedition’s few survivors and its published chronicler, Magellan bestowed the name “Patagão” (or Patagón) on the inhabitants they encountered there, and the name “Patagonia” for the region. Although Pigafetta’s account does not describe how this name came about, subsequent popular interpretations gave credence to a derivation meaning ‘land of the big feet’. However, this etymology is questionable. The term is most likely derived from an actual character name, “Patagón“, a savage creature confronted by Primaleón of Greece, the hero in the homonymous Spanish chivalry novel (or knight-errantry tale) by Francisco Vázquez. This book, published in 1512, was the sequel of the romance “Palmerín de Oliva,” much in fashion at the time, and a favourite reading of Magellan. Magellan’s perception of the natives, dressed in skins, and eating raw meat, clearly recalled the uncivilized Patagón in Vázquez’s book. Novelist and travel writer Bruce Chatwin suggests etymological roots of both Patagon and Patagonia in his book, In Patagonia, noting the similarity between “Patagon” and the Greek word παταγος, which means “a roaring” or “gnashing of teeth” (in his chronicle, Pigafetta describes the Patagonians as “roaring like bulls”).

The main interest in the region sparked by Pigafetta’s account came from his reports of their meeting with the local inhabitants, whom they claimed to measure some nine to twelve feet in height —“…so tall that we reached only to his waist”—, and hence the later idea that Patagonia meant “big feet”. This supposed race of Patagonian giants or Patagones entered into the common European perception of this little-known and distant area, to be further fuelled by subsequent reports of other expeditions and famous-name travellers like Sir Francis Drake, which seemed to confirm these accounts. Early charts of the New World sometimes added the legend regio gigantum (“region of the giants”) to the Patagonian area. By 1611 the Patagonian god Setebos (Settaboth in Pigafetta) was familiar to the hearers of The Tempest.

The concept and general belief persisted for a further 250 years, and was to be sensationally re-ignited in 1767 when an “official” (but anonymous) account was published of Commodore John Byron’s recent voyage of global circumnavigation in HMS Dolphin. Byron and crew had spent some time along the coast, and the publication (Voyage Round the World in His Majesty’s Ship the Dolphin) seemed to give proof positive of their existence; the publication became an overnight best-seller, thousands of extra copies were to be sold to a willing public, and other prior accounts of the region were hastily re-published (even those in which giant-like folk were not mentioned at all).

However, the Patagonian giant frenzy was to die down substantially only a few years later, when some more sober and analytical accounts were published. In 1773 John Hawkesworth published on behalf of the Admiralty a compendium of noted English southern-hemisphere explorers’ journals, including that of James Cook and John Byron. In this publication, drawn from their official logs, it became clear that the people Byron’s expedition had encountered were no taller than 6-foot-6-inch (1.98 m), very high but by no means giants. Interest soon subsided, although awareness of and belief in the myth persisted in some quarters even up into the 20th century.

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Me: From the Wikipedia article on Patagonian Giants or Patagones

The Patagones or Patagonian giants are a mythical race of people, who first began to appear in early European accounts of the then little-known region and coastline of Patagonia. They were supposed to have exceeded at least double normal human height, some accounts giving heights of 12 to 15 feet (3.7 to 4.6 m) or more. Tales of these improbable people would take a hold over European concepts of the region for some 250 years, until they were substantially debunked at the end of the 18th century.

First mention of these people came from the voyage of Ferdinand Magellan and his crew, who claimed to have seen them while exploring the coastline of South America en route to their circumnavigation of the world in the 1520s. Antonio Pigafetta, one of the expedition’s few survivors and the chronicler of Magellan’s expedition, wrote in his account about their encounter with natives twice a normal person’s height:

“One day we suddenly saw a naked man of giant stature on the shore of the port, dancing, singing, and throwing dust on his head. The captain-general [i.e., Magellan] sent one of our men to the giant so that he might perform the same actions as a sign of peace. Having done that, the man led the giant to an islet where the captain-general was waiting. When the giant was in the captain-general’s and our presence he marveled greatly, and made signs with one finger raised upward, believing that we had come from the sky. He was so tall that we reached only to his waist, and he was well proportioned…”

Pigafetta also recorded that Magellan had bestowed on these people the name “Patagão” (i.e. “Patagon”, or Patagoni in Pigafetta’s Italian plural),^[1] but did not further elaborate on his reasons for doing so. Since Pigafetta’s time the assumption that this derived from pata or foot took hold, and “Patagonia” was interpreted to mean “Land of the Bigfeet”. However, this etymology remains questionable, since amongst other things the meaning of the suffix -gon is unclear. Nevertheless, the name “Patagonia” stuck, as did the notion that the local inhabitants were giants. Early maps of the New World afterwards would sometimes attach the label regio gigantum (“region of giants”) to the area.

In 1579, Sir Francis Drake’s ship chaplain, Francis Fletcher, wrote about meeting very tall Patagonians.

In the 1590s, Anthonie Knivet claimed he had seen dead bodies 12 feet (3.7 m) long in Patagonia.

Also in the 1590s, William Adams, an Englishman aboard a Dutch ship rounding Tiera del Fuego reported a violent encounter between his ship’s crew and unnaturally tall natives.

In 1766, a rumour leaked out upon their return to Britain that the crew of HMS Dolphin, captained by Commodore John Byron, had seen a tribe of 9-foot-tall (2.7 m) natives in Patagonia when they passed by there on their circumnavigation of the globe. However, when a newly-edited revised account of the voyage came out in 1773, the Patagonians were recorded as being 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m); very tall, but by no means giants.

The people encountered by Byron were in all likelihood the Tehuelches, indigenous to the region. Later writers consider the Patagonian giants to have been a hoax, or at least an exaggeration and mis-telling of earlier European accounts of the region.

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Me: I would say that the patagonian stories and legends are probably true, given the relative size that is now scientifically valided on the natives who were often over 1 feet taller than the explorers. One would be amazed at how badly and incorrectly some people can estimate the height of people who are substantially taller than them. A person who is really 7 feet tall can claim to be 7′ 4″ or even 7′ 6″ and most people would believe them because they are so much shorter and smaller in relative size. P.T. Barnum and Bailey were famous for exhibiting tall giants and exxegrating the giant’s height, often by over 1 feet or more. There was very few giants who went on tour with Barnum & Bailey who were really their listed height. Robert Wadlow had also gone on tour with the circus and if he was billed as 10 foot and I saw him, I would have believed it.

If we remember, the most famous quote that P.T. Barnum has ben attributed to say is “There is an sucker born every minute”. A well known idea is that if you can tell a lie big enough and long enough, eventually people will start believing in it. Perfect examples was the age old myth that humans only use 10% of their brain, or that 93% of all communication is nonverbal, which were both eventually proven to be false in recent studies done in the last few decades.

 

I admit it. I have a fascination not just with how to increase height, but height in general. I enjoy reading articles that talk about giants, dwarfs, extreme human bodies, and people with deformity and disfigurement, often through some birth defect or genetic mutation. For me, I find that as I see more examples of how varied the human body can be, I become more tolerant and accepting of other people, no matter what shape and size they come in.

Plus, it is something interesting to talk about when you meet someone and feel like you run out of stuff to talk about. For example, you meet your new girlfriend’s parents and the inevitable awkward silence appears after some great light banter and humor. What do you? I try to make a note of the parent’s hair color, or eye color, and say an interesting fact about genetics and how they are unique or special.

With guys, I always give the compliment that they are a lot taller than I imagine or thought. With women, I try to compliment them on how young they look. I know, I am trying to butter them up so they will stop hating me for dating their daughter.

So my next “fun fact of the day” starts with a question, “Who was the biggest person to ever exist?” Now, that is a rather hard question to answer. When people are talking about “big” they are using the measurement unit of “size”. but size and big are more qualitative words which can not be measured. When people talk about size, they can either be talking about weight or height, the two main anthropomorphic ways humans are mainly measured.

With height, I think I have that covered quite well. I have stated in many of the previous posts who were the tallest documented people in history are.

With weight, that is also quite easy to pinpoint. We focus on the subject of word record setters in the weight department on this post, just for fun. From just a quick search on google typing in “heaviest man in history” or “fattest man ever” you get the mention of two main contenders.

The first is John Brower Minnoch which you can find the Wikipedia article about him HERE. His peak weight was about 1400 lbs (634 kg)!! He also stood at a respectable 6′ 1″ which puts his BMI at a heartache awaiting to happen number of 186 kg/ m^2. He was born in 19441 and lived to be 42 to 1983. His massive weight was attributed parted to massive generalized edema, a condition where the body accumulates excess extracellular fluid. A doctor found out that 900 of his lbs was from retaining that fluid. After he was hospitalized at the age of 39, he was able to drop his weight down to 476, but eventually regained a lot of the weight back because of this edema.

The other possible heaviest person is a man from Mexico Manuel Uribe (Wiki article located HERE), who reached a peak height of 1320 lb from suffering from massive obesity. He had been bedridden since 2001 until he got national recognition and attention from the Mexican TV stations. He was featured on a documentary entitled The World’s Heaviest Man. Since coming into the public eye, he has been able to get help and treatment for his weight and has reduced his weight dramatically to “just” 440 lb. Since then, Manuel has been able to get remarried and seems very happy.

From Manuel’s own argument, this was the reason he had grown so big

“Life in the U.S. is like that. You just go from your desk to your car. I used to drive my car to and from work, so I didn’t get any exercise”

That is a testament of how unfit the average american has become today. I am imploring the people who come to this website to remember that we as human beings should be striving to grow vertically, not horizontally. It is well known among anthropologist that one of the best indications of the overall health of a country is the measurement of their height. On average, taller countries are healthier countries Given the extreme weight and obesity problems and sedentary lifestyle associated with the USA, it is extremely unlikely there was anyone heavier through history. Most people in history were mostly very skinny from a lack of ability to find food and strenuous work. I can’t imagine someone from ancient egypt, china, or rome being over 1000 lbs, much less over 300 lbs unlike many people I have seen walking around.

Of course it is important to note that anything in excess is not good, whether it be in weight or height since they leave to major inconveniences in life. It might be cool for some people to try to get into the record books by transforming their body but they are putting themselves in critical danger. My final point is, stay healthy, eat well , and exercise.

 

 

Today I was writing another post for this website and a rather amazing insight arrived in my mind which I don’t think many people have really considered or even realized. The existence of Sultan Kosen (the current world tallest person record holder) and his growth pattern should be enough proof to show that height increase is possible even after the growth plates have closed. Now follow me on my thought process.

We all know that an average male’s growth process is that he probably starts puberty somewhere within the 12-16 age range and his growth stops when he reaches around the 18-19 year range. There are some exceptions like ex-NBA star center 7′ 1″ David Robinson who grew 7 inches when he was 21 but we are referring to the average american male’s growth patterns. The growth plates of a guy should be closed at around age 19-20 when he reaches his full height. That is when most doctors will say that vertical growth had become impossible and we could only grow horizontally now (nice way of saying we are just going to grow fatter as we age over time).

However, if we analyze the growth rate and patterns of Sultan Kosen, we notice something strange. Yes, it is true that he is abnormal and we have to always take the fact that he had a tumor pressing agains his pituitary gland to always remember and consider when we are making any type of scientific and logical argument. We have to remember that he is a pituitary giant, but a rather standard traditional medical case of one. Even the famous life coach Anthony Robbins who grew from 5′ 3″ to 6′ 7″ within 2 years had a pituitary gland tumor issue which would explain his amazing size and growth rate.

Kosen has been named the tallest man in the world since late 209 when he at 8′ 1″ over took Bao Xishun who was “only” 7′ 9″ and held that title for a few years. However, Sultan Kösen was still growing and at a more recent meeting with the then tallest man of the U.S. George Bell, Sultan Kösen was measured at 8 feet 2 inches tall. On 8 February 2011 Sultan Kösen was measured in Ankara, Turkey at 8 feet 3 inches (251.4 cm). Source Guinness World Records.

It is stated from the Tallest Man website that “”Sultan Kosen came to the University of Virginia in 2010, so UVa doctors could treat the tumor in his pituitary gland that was causing excess growth hormone and gigantism. Previous, failed attempts to halt Kosen’s growth made the UVa team’s job all the harder. A UVa doctor put Kosen on medication to help balance his hormone levels. Dr. Jason Sheehan (UVa brain surgeon) used a tool called a gamma knife to attack the tumor, which was too deep in Kosen’s brain for conventional surgery. The technique used focused beams of radiation to target the tumor.””

Since then, he was remeasured late year in 2011 to be 8′ 3″ by Guinnes World Records, who are very thorough and accurate in their measurements. Apparently the Guinness World Record people take into account the fact that people’s heights vary throughout the day so they actually measure a person 6 times in one day and come out with an average of the  measurements and proclaim that as the “real” height. The claim is that he had “grown” by another 2 years since he was crown to push him even further away from other potential title contenders.

So the height research would be quick to ask? Did he really “grow” or did he maybe just learn or decide to straighten out his back to add more inches to his height? Kosen is indeed proud of his height unlike some really tall people so maybe he wanted to exhibit his own uniqueness to the world by making himself even taller through say some type of stretching exercise?

I would state that I seriously doubt that. From the Tallest Man website, I had stated that there was 2 other 8 feet tall people in the world right now. One of them is Moroccan Brahim Takioullah who has been verified to be around 8′ 1″ tall as measured by a French Doctor who measured his height three times during a day to take an average. Apparently the two giants have met each other and had their pictures taken with them standing side by side. If we look at the pictures, we can see that Kosen is clearly taller than Takioullah, by about 2″ as reported by the official people who did the measuring.

Kosen was born in Dec 1982. So in 2009 he was 27. From 2009 and 2011 he grew 2 inches. So he was 29 in 2011. The growth plates of a person even who has excess HGH being released should still be going through ordinary ages of growth plate fusion. If we just look at someone like the 16 year old Brazilian Elisany Silva, she has effectively stopped increasing in height. Her growth plates would have sealed but the excess HGH release would have eventually have given her acromegaly instead of gigantism once she past puberty.

My point is that even after Kosen passed puberty, assuming he went through a normal cycle even with the pituitary gland problem, his growth plates should have fused when he was 20-21. However ,even 6 years later at the age of 27, he was still growing. So how is that possible when the bones can no longer growth any more.

One could argue that his posture improved but I would actually say that his posture actually got worst from the age of 27 to 29. When we first heard about Kosen in 2009, he was able to get around using just a cane for support. Now his walking has gotten worse and he has required 2 crutches to support himself to walk. His irregular posture and standing style has not improved in anyway that would suggest he has been doing some form of stretching or yoga to align his back or vertebrate. If we look at the pictures of Kosen of how he looked and stood with his posture from 2009 and 2011, he looks about the same, but the only main difference in those 2 years was an extra 2 icnhes. So should we assume that he was wearing thick heeled shoes to give him even more added height? what kind of a guy would he be who was 8′ 1″ need to wear thick heeled shoes to make himself look 8′ 3″?

So clearly Kosen has grown, but his growth plates should have fused a long time ago, right? So what the hell is the excess of HGH release doing to make him add the extra 2 inches? 2 inches even on an 8 foot tall person can not be attributed to a measurement error, especially to the Guinness World Records people, who are very accurate at this particular record.

From a medical point, I have not read any literature that says that if one is suffering from an excess release of HGH from a pituitary tumor that their growth process is longer than the average human. Estrogen release should have still casued their growth plates to seal around the age of the age person. I strongly believe that sultan’s long bones had the growth plates fused together at the age of 20-21 and he grew still after that in some way. This proves in my viewpoint quite conclusively that height increase is possible even after puberty and even after the bones and growth plates should have completely ossified.