Note: This post will be linked to one of the questions asked and answered in the FAQ section. Its intention is to cut down on the number of commonly asked questions that I receive to the website email and streamline the operations of the website/blog.

In the last week there has been a noticeable increase in emails the website email has been getting with a common themed question that runs along this message…

“Hi, I’m ENTER YOUR AGE years old. Am I Still Growing? Can I Still Grow Taller?”

It would be smart if I wrote a post write now to explain in as much detail as I can to finally answer this question in entirety and resolve it for the questioner. If you ask another followup question and explain further on your own unique individual situation, I probably can’t help you. I am NOT a medical professsional, nutritionist, personal trainer, or whatever else can give these types of advice.

I am a height and height increase analyst, researcher, inventor, and maybe also consultant when I finally get the knowledge down, which would take 4-5 years of continued study and research. Guessing is not a scientific way of making predictions and on average, I am wrong more time than I am right. Every time I’ve bet on something, I’m always the one who losses his money.

So this is my answer to this very general question…

Answer: In previous posts I have  shown that whether a person is still growing naturally depends on their sex, ethnicity, age, lifestyle, and even mental health. If we hold all the other factors constant and just look at the factor of age as a variable I would say that for 95-99% of all people in a population, the age that they stop growing is 15-17 years old for girls, and 17-19 years old for guys. To arrive at these two age ranges, I take the resource from Duke Health , MedHelp, and United States Tennis Association.

• From Duke Health – “On average, females are done growing around age 12 to 14, and boys around age 14 to 16.“

• From MedHelp – “”

• Femur: The 3 epiphyses/growth plates at upper end fuse at 18 years , The 1 epiphysis/growth plate at lower end fuse at 20 years 
• Tibia: Upper end fuses at 16-18 years , Lower end fuses at 15-17 years 
• Humerus: Upper end during 20th year , Lower end at about 16 years 
• Radius: Upper end during 18th year , Lower end at 20 years

• From USTA – “For example, the growth plates in the elbow area close at approximately ages 12 to 14 in girls, but not until ages 15 to 16 in boys.“

From all these different values, it can be really hard to pinpoint what exactly is the age range. The reason why the Duke Health has the lowest age range is that the doctors are trying to be accurate as possible.

Remember: In general doctors always choose to error on the side of giving below average prognosis and chances. If they say that a patient is healthy and they turn out to be wrong, they can suffer from lawsuits. If instead they give below average prognosis and news, if they make a mistake and the patients do better than their pronosis, they will not be sued. This type of doctor protocol in giving non-positive prognosis is to make themself safe from erroring on the wrong side.

Overall, there are hundreds of Medical websites and resources on the internet and most of them would say it is probably around the 13-15 years range for girls, and 15-17 age range for boys where the growth plates in the long bones close.

Key Point: However, We must also remember that the age of final and complete epiphyseal cartilage ossification in the vertebrate is actually on average 2 years further than in the long bones of the limbs. (I currently can’t find the source for this fact but it is backed up by Scientific Literature).

This means that the usual way of determining whether one’s growth plates are closed from where the endocrinologist or orthopedic doctor looks at just 1 X-ray picture of the left hand  is very inaccurate. Currently, there is two main ways to measure for bone maturity through studying growth plates, the Tanner-Whitehouse (TW) and Greulich-Pyle (GP) methods. Overall the Greulich Pyle method which just using an eyeballing guess is not as accurate as the numerical method of Tanner Whitehouse.

At this point, I don’t know which method the doctors looking at your growth plates will use, if they use it at all. I would assume that any good doctor which is willing to take their time with their patient will be more accurate but the busy schedule of doctors might cause them to just eyeball your X-rays and using their years of practice and expertise give a rounding value. I wrote in a previous post entitled “Your Growth Plate X-Rays Don’t Tell The Entire Story, Why Your Doctor Can Be Wrong And You Might Still Be Growing 🙂” which showed that these doctors are often wrong.

So if you are an adolescent or going through puberty, you can still grow if you are AT or BELOW these age ranges.

• Girls: 15-17
• Boys: 17-19

Things to Note: It seems from my personal observation that guys have a bell curve distribution function that has long tails (using statistic jargon here). This means that the age range is less accurate in getting the right numbers for men and many do fall out of the age range. Some men keep growing until 22-23 even. For women, there are instances where pregnancy caused the onset of additional height increase in females, but those cases are outliers.

Advice: You need an X-Ray of your growth plates to be accurate. This x-ray will be analyzed by a specialist, an endocrinologist or orthopedics (still not sure which one yet). This means that FIRST you will need to see your family or personal doctor. After consulting with them, tell them you wanted to know your ability to continue to grow and ask them to write you a recommendation to see a specialist who can read the X-rays. They will provide the recommendation. Once you meet the specialist tell them specifically to get at least 3 rays. This will probably run around the cost of $600-800, $200 for the knee, $190 for the wrist, and $280 for the spine, $370 for the chest, using National X-Ray cost averages (source), not including the cost of seeing the family doctor and the specialist, but if you really are serious about knowing your growth rate and whether you can continue to grow, you will go through with it to be accurate.

• One for the left hand to give them a reference point,
• One for the knee to check the distal femoral physis and the proximal tibial physis.
• One for the cervical region of the vertebrate. This is to look at the growth plates there which will fuse AFTER the growth plates in the long bones are mostly gone.

Sure, there are other growth plates and cartilage in other places which we haven’t considered to give the best answer, but with these three X-rays used as set points, the medical specialists would be able to answer your original question “Am I Still Growing? Can I Still Grow Taller?” far more easily and accurately. I hope this post was good enough to answer your original question. This is the best advice I can give at this point.

When I was going through the original search through the Internet looking at the different types of height increase and grow taller scams, I thought the biggest Internet Marketing product was Grow Taller 4 Idiots. Recently I have been noticing that new links and short urls on Twitter messages popping up for another heavily marketed product which can only be a scam.

It seems that if you click on the crazy marketing messages on Twitter, it always takes you to a sales page which pretends to be a Men’s Health magazine website page. However even a 1 minute analysis of the webpage shows that the website is not related to the actual Men’s Health magazine in anyway. If you wanted to see the webpage, click HERE. This is one of the worst sales pages I’ve seen yet because the page only has links to the product. No matter where you click, it always takes you to the Pill’s webpage.

From the sales page…

You may have heard of the enormously popular Elevate GF in the news. It’s a completely organic supplement that celebrities & body builders use around the world that they don’t want you knowing about. But today we are leaking the secret. Elevate GF offers many benefits primarily due to its high anti-oxidant content. It’a all natural HGH hormones make is a “Stud “Building” machine. If you’re skeptical, you’re not alone. When we first learned about this ‘grow taller’ miracle, our fad radar went off right away.

 You may have heard of the enormously popular Elevate GF in the news. It’s a completely organic supplement that celebrities & body builders use around the world that they don’t want you knowing about. But today we are leaking the secret. Elevate GF offers many benefits primarily due to its high anti-oxidant content. Combine it with a powerful and all natural HGH, and you’ve created a tall man machine. If you’re skeptical, you’re not alone. When we first learned about this product, our fad radar went off right away.

Elevate GF has been clinically proven to:

• Improve Natural Growth 
• Enhance Mood And Well Being 
• Improves Self-Confidence
• Helps Improve General Health
• Even has positive sexual side effects, which is an amazing side benefit! (I’m not even kidding, my favorite muscle seems bigger too. Probably from the expanded blood vessels)

There is one testimonial story where a guy claimed he grew 3 inches in 4 months taking these pills. He went from a height of less than 5′ 5″ to 5′ 8.5″. However what a normal guy would wonder is why he decided to stop taking the pills if he was getting those results since most guys want to be taller, at least to 6 feet. If you did click on the sales links which I would guess most people would never do, you get to the product’s page.

On the page, the creators list the main ingredients which are…

1. Mucana Pruriens
2. Rhaponticum Carthamoides
3. Terminalia Arjuna
4. Phyllanthus Emblica

While I have not looked at the bottom three supplement elements, I have looked at the first and the old research says that taking Mucana Pruriens can definitely help release slightly more GH into the system so the science is relatively true. As for the other three supplements, one of them is to make heart healthier, another have anti-viral properties, and the last seems to help with cognitive function and muscular issues.

The sales page says that the supplement will help the person has a better deep sleep, but especially in the REM stage since that is where it might be that the greatest GH is released. In essence, this product height increase pill is supposed to increase the GH release, and this is combined with two other types of compounds, the peripheral membrane protein, and the sex hormone-binding globulin. At this point, I don’t know anything about these compounds. However I would guess that they have a function in the endocrine system of the body and probably indirectly regulates human growth in some way.

What is very frustrating is that most of the sales claims is not for height increase, but for muscle mass increase, tissue recovery and healing, and more energy. There is a small section that says that this product will work to make people who are over 18 taller and this is the blantant fake claim that they make.

If this product was sold on the internet as an adult GH supplement which can ONLY increase muscle mass, increase energy, and possibly have positive sexual performance effects, then it can be passed off as possible since GH in physically mature adults have been shown to increase muscularity. Where they go wrong is claim to make adults taller.

When I decided to click on the “Get Started” button I am redirectly back to the same page. It seems every single link only gets directed back to this one specific webpage. However on this page is a small fill-out form where a person must give their address and information. What I am guessing from my Internet Marketing background is that someone created this webpage NOT to sell a height increase supplement, but more likely to test the internet space and market to see how feasible it is and look at conversion rates. That’s my guess at this point.

I am finding in recent days that a lot of people have been finding the website and have become willing to chip in in their way to contribute to the cause.

I got a message on the Natural Height Growth  Facebook page from a regular reader who goes by the name “Knivez” who said that they have been doing A LOT of research on height increase through stacking steroids and supplements. And he provided to me the complete H.U.S.S. method, which if I remember correctly would be able to give the person who did it around 4.5 cm of height increease in 3 months or something around those values.

At this point I am trying to finish the old private posts and add upon the “Library” section to get a real database going. A lot of it is just to clean the website out and to sort things out so that it would be easier for me and the readers to access any important  material easier. That will the main focus for me for the next month or so. More material will be added but they are ideas or topics which I’ve thought about but haven’t gotten to talking about. I’m still hoping to get people like Hakker who has shown back up, Kazlina (goes by Nikki), and Dr. Brighton to come and get interviewed.

From the message poster….

I’m not exactly sure if this information is valid or not but I’ve been doing a lot of research lately pertaining to Height Increase and I found some interesting topics such as the HUSS Routine; 

– Ghenerate 8 sprays – Stimulates Pi3K Activity and cell proliferation
– IGH1 1 pill – Stimulates LH secretion and increases GH production – NOT FOR OPEN PLATES
– Niacin 500mg – Acts as a vasodilator and contributes to GH release – EOD
– Melatonin 3mg – Increases sleep depth and acts as a mild AI – EOD
– Triazole 3 pills – Suppresses aromatase activity AI
– Huperzine A 100mcg – Inhibits release of somatostatin – EOD
– Pyridostigmine 60mg – Better than huperzine A but kinda expensive.
– Ipriflavone – Promotes chondrogenesis
– SAM e – Dna methylation and anti-oxidant
– L-Arginine/L-Ornithine/L-GABA – 500mg+ – Stimulates GH production – EOD
– Chondroitin – Amplifies IGF1 effect on chondrocytes
– E-BOL – Promotes protein synthesis (ask altitude for sources and dosing)

I thought you might benefit from knowing exactly what some of the stacks were used in the past since they are not readily available. I’m also looking into some other methods previously discussed if you are interested 
– Multivitamin (Optimen) – A to Z – Nutrients and minerals
– Calcium 1500mg – For bone modelling and density

Analysis: If this list is the H.U.S.S. routine, I think then they are missing the part about exercise, nutrition, and sleep. If however they are just showing the supplement stack Hakker was suggesting, then the supplements are very accurate. Most of these supplements have been looked at some level before and I have stated that some of them have a real possibility to increase height. Right now I don’t intend to go into the science and theory of the supplements until I get some logistical and website issues worked out. However I will be keeping the list in the back of my mind so I can go back to this post to either edit and add upon the list or to write up new  posts looking at each compound individually.

Message For Tyler: If you are reading this, would you care to leave a comment on what you think about some of these supplement stacks? I don’t have the technical ability at this point to do a good enough critique for some of the stuff I haven’t seen before.

This is a reminder to the readers, old and new, that I am going to make the presence of the website even bigger now in trying to branch out further into the YouTube channel.

I have found that the more channels you use to distribute the website’s presence the more people who come and visit the website. A huge part of my effort in the last 3 months have been just to generate more traffic to the website. This may be because of my Internet Marketing background and influence. Traffic is always on my mind, and it is not healthy. I think I check my traffic stats too much.

Anyway, the Natural Height Growth has it’s own YouTube channel (as well as Facebook, Twitter, and Podcast). You can get to the channel by clicking HERE. The source link is HERE.

Note: I am going to try to stay away from doing anymore posts that reviews websites, products, and scam pills and actually move towards on reviewing these products through a Youtube video. I personally think that it will be easier and will be a better way to reach more people. 

The video is embedded from YouTube below. For the regular readers, there is really nothing new on the video except me talking again (not showing my face yet since I am still a little hesitant about making that final leap). I am explaining to future website visitors and readers why my website is the best resource they can find. This is for them.

• Click Here To Subscribe To The Natural Height Growth Channel On YouTube!

In another Email Sugata gave me, he wanted me to look at another website based from India on the claim that they can help people increase their height. This time it is with a website, company, Dr, and product which I had listed in the “Scams” section in the beginning of being a scam.

So let’s try to do a quick review of the website, doctor, claim, and the product.

• Product Being Sold: B-TALL Height growth Course
• Doctor: Dr. Monga
• Website: www.heightincrease.in
• Company: Amritsar
• Based Off Of: Mumbai or Delhi, India

Sugata, who is a regular reader of the website sent me this link to a website WiderShoulderBones.com which is claiming something new for me.

The people there claim that they have programs which can help you increase your shoulder width, lengthen your forearms, and lengthen the lower legs.

They seem to be based off of London, UK. The term “Harley Road” comes up over and over again for the website.

They state from the home page…

“Our achievements proves non surgical methods do work providing the correct methods are used and the right expertise is given. Bare in mind there are no known surgical methods that can widen the shoulder bones, this proves the individuals who have achieved wider shoulder bones in our Vlogs could only have achieved the results from using our program.”

Here we offer to reveal secrets that will help you to achieve the wider upper body frame you have always wanted. It is now possible to increase the width of your shoulder bones by just following our non-strenuous exercise program daily which is  specifically designed to widen the bones in your shoulders in just months. You can now add inches to the width of your shoulders without having to lift any weights to bulk up muscle mass on your shoulders to acquire the additional width you want. You can of course do both. Use our program to widen your bones on your shoulders to improve your existing frame for a better structural foundation and after add muscles by exercising with weights to achieve an even more impressive frame for perfection.

If what is preventing you from having the perfect physique is the lack of width on your shoulders, then look no further, you are unlikely to find anything more simple and effective to acquire wider shoulder ‘bones’ naturally anywhere else.

There are NO apparatus or dumb bells included with our exercise program.The only successful results are achieved with our shoulder widening program that specifically targets the BONES in your shoulders. This will mean lifting weights to bulk up muscle mass on your shoulders is no longer the only method to add extra width to your shoulders. Our exercise program targets the bones in your shoulders directly, widening them, to give you the extra width (from within) you want!.

What we have achieved, is successfully designed and identified exercises that have shown to widen shoulder bones over a relatively short period of time (for bone growth) even in fully grown adults (beyond the age of 21) If they’re performed regularly. The fact is the manipulation of the human skeleton is entirely possible (through exercise) to excite growth. This means applying the correct repetitive exertions (through exercise) to areas of significance on the human skeleton can stimulate new bones to grow. Our exercise program delivers on that exact principle which is recognized and purposely designed, when also performed to an optimal pace and duration will produce the best dynamics to invigorate the growth of new bones in the shoulders. Please make the right decision to choose a program that has already been tested to work. You don’t want to be wasting your time when you can be making progress instead.

Me: I can already guess what the possible idea they are proposing is, and it is based off the basic Wolff’s Law. If you apply some form of external loading stimuli to the shoulder bones, they will react and get thicker in terms of width. Remember that the shoulder bone is not a long bone so it doesn’t really have a longitudinal direction for them to go towards. The shoulder bone will get thicker and wider and that is the proposed idea. They say in the “How Is It Possible?” section that the program/ exercise involves the idea of tissue repairing themselves. They also briefly talk about cell hypertrophy and proliferation.

They state very clearly.. (I highlighted the most important parts)

The emphasis with our programs is not about creating high levels of stress to force the changes to the structure of the bones but on creating the right type of repetitive low levels of stress which had proven more effective to produce the results they are recognized to produce.

When ‘repetitive’ stress is exerted on your bones through exercise, depending on what exercises you perform, the stress will likely to create micro fractures (on a molecular level) in the bones. When the micro fractures heal they can change the structure of your bones (what changes occur will depend on the type of repetitive exercise you perform) minutely from each session of performing our exercises. Which type of micro fractures you create in the bones will depend on the level of stress is exerted on the bones. High levels of stress exerted on the bones from an exercise for example such as constant jumping and landing on your feet from high up can cause much more severe micro fractures in the bones in the lower legs, in those circumstances even after the micro fractures are healed, in exceptional rare cases, some problems can arise in the bones which can be corrected by surgery. What’s important is low levels of repetitive stress exerted on the bones can be healed by the body’s healing properties through the healing process without any problems arising at a later date, this serves our programs really well.

Bones can be altered (but not manipulated to grow) by a primitive method of applying constant pressure directly on the bones itself  for a long period of time which is similar to how dental braces work to reposition teeth. However our intelligent advance method of bone manipulation does not involve simply applying direct pressure on the bones itself but through exercises, we have designed, that delivers balanced low repetitive levels of stress (balanced exercises for balance growth) to the bones differently, hence will effect the bones in a different way. This enables the bones to be manipulated to grow in a way which otherwise be unthinkable.

When you exercise, your bones will also be put under stress, and if you exert enough of the right type of ‘repetitive’ low levels of stress over a certain period of time on the same area of bone/s, the result will cause enough stress to initiate the healing process, but its only possible through the repetitiveness of the right type of exercises and application, without the high enough repetitive nature of the exercises, it wont work, hence why most sports activities does not affect the structure of the bones.

Conclusion: In terms of the superficial scientific theory, they are actually completely right. In some ways, the program they offer can potentially lead to increased shoulder bone width size. You load the bone and it will get bigger in response, just like when you hit your skin hard, and then it become engorged with blood and results in a bump showing inflammation. They have figured out that a constant load wont do the trick so the idea is to use a dynamic, loading sequence (like tapping) to get the bone to respond. They say there is only two types of exercises you need to perform and they only take less than 8 minutes. The idea on microfractures is very similar to Sky’s old idea as well as Pierre Pozzuto’s theory too. You do the dynamic loading on the bone, they can potentially cause microfractures, and after the microfractures heal they do change the bone morphology. In terms of causing the shoulder bone to get bigger, that is theoretically possible if they hit the right area of the shoulder with a large enough area. If they use a small loading surface, that would only cause a section of the shoulder bone to enlarge. However I am not sure how much of an increase the bone will go through, although I am rather certain that the shoulder bone will respond by getting thicker, thus “bigger”. As for the claims that the programs can make the forearm and the lower leg bigger, they are using the same operating principle. If there is any increase in length of the lower limbs, that would be from loading in the bone protruding areas and the results would be from appositional growth responses. However this is a similar proposed belief by most people who are currently explaining away the results seen from people who have grown taller from LSJL.

As for the microfracture theory, I can say with some confidence from teh failure of Sky’s experiments that the microfracture theory and practice will probably not be successful, but the repetitive loading idea may cause bone thickness to increase.

The payment system they use is Paypal and I think they either send you a DVD through the mail or even give you an E-Product, which I have never believed in.