I couldn’t find anything that showed that bone could grow taller in response to creep strain but it seems that other objects can get longer.  Creep Strain can cause a change in shape of bone at very low magnitudes of strain but at very high amounts of time which is important as the amount of load required to induce plastic deformation of bone is outside ordinary means.  The optimal load for creep strain may about half that of which is used to induce fracture.

I could only find studies that showed that creep strain compressed bone not that it could lengthen it.

However, if creep strain can lengthen other objects shouldn’t it be able to do the same to bone?

Here’s a high school science experiment that shows that creep strain can lengthen objects:

Do Materials Get Tired? Do Rubber Bands Get Longer During Use?

“Some materials will slowly deform when a constant force or displacement is applied to them. This time-dependent and permanent deformation is called creep.

If you have ever noticed that chewing gum gradually sags when it is stuck to something or watched a plastic grocery bag gradually tear apart when it is carrying too much weight, you have observed creep!”

The science experiment involves loading a rubber band with a weight for 24 hours to observe creep and then measuring the change in length.

Now rubber bands are much more elastic than bone which is a problem.

Another problem is that based on how the tensile creep strain is applied to the bone other soft tissues will be loaded which may fail first before the bone has undergone creep for an appropriate amount of time.  Another issue is that inducing creep failure in bone may cause loss of bone structural integrity may cause problems.

Methods of inducing creep strain in bone seem to lend itself to several common exercises:

Holding weights for extended periods of time to lengthen arms.  For creep strain it has to be for a significantly long amount of time and then there’s the issue of the soft tissues failing first.  Can anyone find any anecdotal evidence of people who do farmer’s walks(you don’t actually have to walk to induce creep strain just holding the weights is enough) having longer arms?

Hanging to lengthen arms.  And again there’s no guarantee that creep strain will be induced in the arms before soft tissue failure.  And you’d have to do it for quite a sustained amount of time although you can take breaks as creep train is based on fatigue loading so you can rest for brief intervals as long as total bone fatigue gradually increases.

Inversion to lengthen legs although more load than body weight is likely needed and it would be very hard to maintain the kind of duration for creep to take place.

Does anyone have any anecdotal evidence of these exercises increasing arm or leg height?  While common I’m not sure these exercises are best for creep strain based lengthening due to the likelihood of your joints giving out before your bones.