Update #11 – Decalcification of Bone Layer – February 1, 2014

In a seminal post I wrote about half a year ago (Why Growing Taller With Closed Growth Plates Is So Difficult To Figure Out And Impossible To Almost All People), I was talking about why it is close to impossible to stretch out bones to make them longer. Bones are not designed to be easily stretched out. From billions and billions of years of natural evolution, the way that the individual units inside the bones are aligned next to each other means that it would be rather difficult to mold the bones into a certain size or shape. (and yes, we are perfectly aware of Wolff’s Law). The problem is not just one problem, but multiple problems. For a long time, I was not sure how to tackle this problem, since it was a nested layer of problems we have to resolve. The way that the bones are actually structured, with the osteons, lamellar layers, and lacunae of osteoblasts, suggest that it would be very hard with today’s technology to say lengthen the bones or regrow growth plates in any way.

In recent months, we have been inundated with quite a few people who commented and said that we need to search for real solutions to the problem. Move away from talking about the problem and actually search for a real solution. Well, I can only say that we are trying our best with the resources that we have at our disposal at this time.

If you add in the fact that we all have our own lives to live, with other responsibilities, it means that the research is going at a snail’s pace. However, that doesn’t mean that we can’t get and find breakthroughs. So far, I would say that we have found at least half a dozen discoveries which can open more doors and paths for us to look into.

A lot of people have been finding this website through searching for terms like “How to reopen growth plates” on Google. Well, we are not sure that you can using some type of normal pill or chemical reopen those growth plates. A common argument we hear is that there is still a thin line called the epiphyseal growth plate line which stays around and never goes away. Maybe we can do something to turn that line back. Well, from the research Ive done, I suspect that even that epiphyseal line would eventually go away after maybe 10 years after full one maturity. After I had to get an X-Ray on my knee about 4 years ago to check for bone spurs from knee pain, I looked very closed at the X-Ray of my tibia/fibula bone couplet and did not see any trace of even the epiphyseal line.

What I would be willing to propose at this point is a two pronged approach, if not a 3 pronged approach.

1. We first have to use something to change the adult adipocyte stem cells in the yellow bone marrow to start to differentiate into the chondrogenic lineage.

Two PubMed studies I haven’t read over yet suggest that it might be possible, if we keep up with the research for another 3-5 years and then create our own lab to test on ourselves.

• Transdifferentiation of mesenchymal stem cells-derived adipogenic-differentiated cells into osteogenic- or chondrogenic-differentiated cells proceeds via dedifferentiation and have a correlation with cell cycle arresting and driving genes
• Proliferation and chondrogenic differentiation of human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells in sodium alginate beads with or without hyaluronic acid

2. We than have to figure out how to remove the crystals in the cortical layer of the bone which is the main reason we can’t stretch out the bone. Yes, we realize perfectly that the hydroxyapatite is the main component that gives the long bone the ultra-high compressive strength and the collagen is the main component that gives the long bone the nearly as high tensile strength. I however believe that if we can remove enough calcium crystals, but still keep the collagen, the range of a externally loaded Pressure (force/area) at which the bones can stretch, without causing a major fracture would be lowered. Not only that, the range at which you can use the pressure  (as drawn on a stress-strain curve) would be widened. You would be less likely to get a major fracture.

3. The third option I propose is to use a type of high intensity vibration amplifier to get the resonance frequency of the bone, place a sharp edge to the bone, and make micro-fracture cracks on it. The marrow seeps through the cortical bone layer, and turns into cartilage tissue. Of course we have not considered the trabecular bone area at all though, and that could be a big issue.

It might be worth looking over the University of California, Berkeley’s paper “The effect of matrix stiffness on the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells in response to TGF-Beta“

The Main Issue

Thee main problem (in my opinion) have always been the fact that the bones are just too strong in material strength. They are as strong as stainless steel. I personally think that while the first strategy can be figured out in say 3-5 years, using the right type of electrical stimuli or chemical compound, the 2nd strategy is something that will perplex even the highly trained orthopedic surgeon.

There is the idea of using a series of needles with some type of weak acid (like Apple Cider Vinegar) to slowly diffuse through the skin and react with the calcium crystals of the bone. In theory the calcium crystals are bases and the acid mixed with the bases, mixed with whatever enzyme and catalyst is in the human body, might be able to dissolve the crystals into the blood stream, making a band on the lone bone just weak enough to allow for pulling of the bone.

The last month has been focused on me trying to look up on Google Scholar and Google Patents ideas that people have proposed on how to decalcify or reverse the calcification of bone. I’ve only found mostly quack ideas by people on how to decalcify the pineal gland related to ancient indian medicine, so the search has been elusive.

What I would love to figure out now is what compound is safe enough for us to diffuse into the bone to remove the crystals (aka decalcification of bone layer) and make the bones weaker. Of course, based on how high the material strength is, this idea would not be practical. If a small band on your long bones are weak enough to be stretched out, your body weight pushing down on it due to gravity would shorten it as well. That would be the other problem.

As for My Own Height Increase Progression

I recently spent the half of January in Osaka, Japan for a business trip so there was no way for me to check my height and see whether it has increased. I have been taking the glucosamine sulfate 1000 mg, Vitamin K3, and started to do about 10 minutes of daily stretching so that is fine for now.

I realize now that instead of keeping people on track on the progress of my height increase and whether anything really works, these monthly posts are a good way to tell people thoughts, ideas, and research that I have been getting into. This is good enough for me.