So I had said before on video and on the podcast that I had rouble understanding how to reach the right high values in Force applied and also the right high frequency for the loading to be dynamic. I had thought that there had to be some tradeoff between the two since most devices you find can’t reach those values like from Progressive Automations.

From the videos on the Progressive Automations you realize the large, heavy powered Actuators which extend or retract by a DC power moves and strokes rather slowly never reaching even the 5 Hz value we saw in the studies with either the rat hindlimbs or the rat elbows which causing humeral and ulna lengthening. I was thinking about this problem last night when I realized what was the problem, and the issue was that I was probably rethinking about the original loading device using by Yokota and Zhang in an incorrect way.

Here is how we can resolve the Loading Vs. Frequency problem. We have to reduce the frequency down to a certain level maybe 1 Hz for the device to even allow for load.

From the progressive automations website, we see that the usual types of applications of the linear servos was to hold something up, like a 48″ TV. When you want to hide a tv in a dresser, you click on a remote and the actuator moves down and the TV drops down out of sight. When you want the TV, you hit another button and the actuator pushes the TV back up. This is how the actuators are supposed to work, by providing a constant, static (NON-DYNAMIC) loading value.

Assuming the TV is 100 lb, then the mass of the TV is calculated to be around 100/2.2= 45.36 kg. That is the mass of the TV. remember that the units of lb and kg are completely different, one is for a fundamental intrinsic property while the other is for a derived function depending on the environment, specifically the gravitational force the mass exerts at a certain direction. In SI units it is 9.81 m/s^2 while in US units it is 32.2 ft/s^2. For the actuator to push the TV up, it’s loading which is a force value in units of Newtons (kg*m/S^2) must be higher than the force of the TV pushing down on the actuator, which is just it’s weight.

These conceptual understanding shows that for the LSJL machine to even have a loading value in units of force, Newtons, it must hold at least for a extended time, of a static constant value.

The reason is because to calculate the vector function F we must have a mass, which is easily found, and another function, acceraltion which is a vector so we have to get the direction as well.

Taking a short tangent into waves and vibration elementary physics we remember that we can treat the dynamic movement of one of the clamp ends as a ossilator which ossilates between the middle set point moving between a set distance away from the middle set point, (say 3 cm in -x and x direction) in the imagined arbitrarily assigned x-y-z axis system. We say that when this simplied system of an ossicilator is modeled using simple mathematics.

It can also be viewed as a pendulum system if desired but an ossilator is a more accurate model. The distance the peizoelectric load side moves if graphed on just a x-y axis plane where the x is time and y is distance, would be a sine wave since we assume the position of the side starts from the initial set point (value of zero). So the value of the distance versus time looks like the figure on the right.

For us to go from distance to acceleration, we have to take the derivative of the x=f(t) function twice. is a=del^2(x=f(t)/dt^2

If we remember from calculus, the derivative of the sine wave is the cos wave. but when we take the derivative of the cos wave we get back to the sine wave. This shows that at certain times of the dynamic moving loading device, it has no acceleration, specifically when the flat piezoelectric plate which is the clamping side is at the set point. which means the force it is applying is really 0, so there is no loading.

Conceptually that means that when the clamping moving in a sinusoidal, oscillatory movement reaches the bone to hit it, it is at its greatest value of acceleration in terms of magnitude. That means that if we increase the frequency speed in units of Hz, we should increase the loading value at the point of contact. The key is to make sure the piezoelectric material in contact with the epiphysis/bone is a hard material that has a high young’s modulus which will not deform. The impact of the hit

The main problem conceptually now is where we are really supposed to clamp or not. When talking about units in Hertz, the real physical units are “the rate of the occurence or phenomena over a specific time duration, 1 second”. When in the Articles Zhang says they had 5 Hz (Source) that means the the device hit the mouse synovial joint 5 times in one second. From a picture of the device, it seems that the device is not automated with some form of feedback loop device. It was probably operated on by a graduate student who had to clamp down using their hands.

From the PubMed study entitled “Elbow loading promotes longitudinal bone growth of the ulna and the humerus” by Yokota and Zhang I took a clip of the picture below which shows the schematic of the original device used for loading. Also took the section titled “experimental design”

Experimental design

In the loading group, mice were mask-anesthetized using 1.5% isoflurane and received loads to the left elbow in the lateral-medial direction with the custom-made piezoelectric mechanical loader. Loads were 0.5 N at 5 Hz and given for 5 min per day for 10 days (Fig. 1a, b). The lateral and the medial sides of the ulna and humerus were in contact with the loading rod and the stator, respectively.
We chose a forelimb configuration that made the right angle (90) between the ulna and the humerus, since in this position the forelimb was relaxed and stably immobilized (Fig. 1c). To position the elbow properly for loading, the lower end of the loading rod and the upper end of the supporter (nylon screw) were designed to form a pair of semi-spherical cups. The olecranon process and coronoid process of the ulna together with the ulnar tuberosity, and medial and lateral epicondyles of the humerus were confined in the cups. The tip of the loader had a contact surface of 3 mm in diameter. To avoid a local stress concentration between the elbow and the loader, both the loading surface and supporter were covered with silicon rubber. The right elbow was used as a sham loading control (contralateral control), which was placed under the loader with no dynamic loading. In the age-matched control group, the same procedure was applied without application of lateral loads.

I was introduced to this Patent Idea HERE when I first proposed building this device which showed that the University researchers had in 2005 already filed a patent. In the patent Yokota with Tanaka stated that …”The magnitude of the mechanical load is oscillated and is applied periodically for a short durations of time.” This suggests that the oscillatory movement is not the easily mathematically graphed behavior of sinusoidal functions like using a sine or cosine function. It seems that the device is supposed to be applied to the bone, held in that position for a short while and then removed, and the processes repeated. This would make more sense since we saw from HeightQuest that the procedure involves using a C-Clamp and holding the clamp position for about 30 seconds before letting go and doing it for only about 5 minutes.

Me: From the Description section of the patent we find that  they describe the patent using these figures. So these are the proposed values for the device to be built.

• Frequency: 2 Hz
• Load: 100 Newtons laterally
• PiezoElectric Material Used: Electrochemical materials such as a polypyrrole polymer and a polythiophene polymer can be used as an artificial-muscle-like actuator

32, 132 and the torque applied to the band 228, 328 around joint 22 can be chosen so that fluid flow would be induced in bone without disturbing any function or structure of joint 22. For apparatus 20, 122 that may be driven by air pressure approximately 40 kPa (5.8 psi) was needed to provide 0.5 N to murine elbows in the second exemplary study discussed below. Assuming that 100 N is used to press a lateral wall of a human knee joint, 51 kPa (7.4 psi) is required for a 50 mm in diameter bladder 32, 132. For instance, pump 136 may be a micro air pump driven at 6-24 NDC with 180 g weight (available from Sensidyne, of Clearwater, FL). 

For apparatus 220, 320 driven by tensioning the circumferential band 228, 328, FIGS. 1 C and ID, the tensile stress in the band, σ_t, is:  σ_t = Pr/t  where P = pressure, r = radius of a supporter, and t = thickness of a band. With P = 51 kPa, r = 50 mm, and t = 3 mm, σ_t is estimated as 0.85 MPa. Since the required force to induce σ , is σ_twt with w = width of a band 228, (50 mm), motor 236 with 5-mm torque arm needs to generate about 0.64 Νm. For example, a gear motor (3363020, available from Igarashi Motors, of St. Charles, IL) having dimensions of 20 mm x 24.5 mm x 29 mm (110 g) can generate up to 1.0 Νm at 12 V. 

Electrochemical materials such as a polypyrrole polymer and a polythiophene polymer can be used as an artificial-muscle-like actuator 328 for apparatus 320. These polymers can be stretched or compressed through ?on formational changes inducible in an electrical field. Actuators can be formed in any shape, for example, belts, and it can easily generate strain of 10 % and stress above 20 MPa with a small amount of electricity. For example, a conductive polypyrrole polymer (available from EAMEX Co., of Osaka, Japan) with a cross-sectional area of 50 mm (width) x 3 mm (thickness) can generate 189 Ν (Hara, S, Zama T, S S, Takashima W, Kaneto K. 2003. Highly stretchable and powerful polyprrole linear actuators. Chemistry Letters, 32:576-577.). 

A first exemplary experimental study compared bone formation in murine ulnae exposed to mechanical loading with bone formation in nonloaded control murine ulnae. Twenty female C57BL/6 mice (14 weeks old) with a body weight of approximately 20 g were used for the study. Each mouse was mask-anesthetized using 2% isoflurane. The mechanical loading was applied with piezoelectric loader 400 (FIGS. 4A and 4B) to right arm 402a (See, Tanaka, S.M., Alam, I.M. and Turner, CH. (2003) Stochastic resonance in osteogenic response to mechanical loading. FASEB J, 17, 313-314.) for 3 minutes per day for three consecutive days to elbow 408 through a lateral medial direction as shown in FIG. 5 A. Left arms were used as nonloaded control specimens. Loading force 416 was sinusoidal at 2 Hz with a peak-to-peak force of 0.5 N, as shown in FIG. 8A. In order to avoid local stress concentrations between joint 408 and loading element 414, the surface of loading element 414 was covered with a silicon rubber sheet (not shown). 

The exemplary mechanical loader 400 used for the study includes an electro-mechanical loading structure and instrumentation. Specifically, structure 430 supports loading element 414 and cantilever 446, coupled to structure 430, supports loading screw 412. Loading screw 412 has an adjustable displacement relative to loading element 414. Specimen 402 to be loaded is positioned between screw 412 and element 414 and screw 412 is adjusted to contact specimen 402. Data acquisition board/command generator 436 provides a command signal to piezo driver 434, which in turn drive piezoelectric actuator 432. Actuator 432 is mechanically coupled to loading element 414 and provides the desired mechanical load commanded by command generator 436. 

Instrumentation of mechanical loader 400 includes strain gauge 444 mechanically coupled to cantilever 446 and electrically coupled to strain gauge conditioner 438 and data acquisition board 436. Strain gauge 444 provides monitoring and control of the mechanical load applied to the specimen. Displacement sensor 448 is coupled to cantilever 446 and measure the variation in displacement relative to lever 450 coupled to loading element 414. Switch 442 selectively electrically couples data acquisition board 436 to signal conditioner 440 which is electrically coupled to displacement sensor 448. Switch 442 also selectively electrically couples data acquisition board 436 to electrode 452. Electrode 452 is placed in contact with specimen 402 for measuring the electrical potential of specimen 402 relative to the ground of loader 400. 

All mice were, given an injection of 0.05 ml saline containing 1% calcein 2 and 6 days after the last application of mechanical load, and ulnae 404a/b were harvested 13 days after the loading. Harvested ulnae 404a/b were fixed in 10% formalin for 2 days. After dehydration by immersion in a series of efhanol solutions, ulnae 404a/b were embedded in methyl methacrylate. Transverse sections 405a/b (FIGS. 6A-6C) 50 um in thickness were cut at 2.5 mm distal from elbow 408 using a diamond wire saw, and ground with sand paper (#400) to about 20 um in thickness. The sections were examined with a fluorescence microscope. 

Using a semiautomatic digitizing system (Bioquant available from R&M Biometrics, of Nashville, TN), three morphometric parameters were determined for the periosteal surface of ulnae 404a/b, including mineralizing surface (MS/BS, %), mineral apposition rate (MAR, um/day), and bone formation rate (BFR/BS, um³/um²/year), where MS = sum of the length of the double-labeled perimeter and half of the single-labeled perimeter, BS = total length of the perimeter, MAR = average radial distance 418 (FIG. 6C) between the two labels per day, and BFR = MS/BS x MAR x 3.65 (Hsieh, Y.F. and Turner, CH. (2001) Effects of loading frequency on mechanically induced bone formation. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, 16: 918-924). 

Streaming potentials were measured as a voltage generated between electrode 452 on a periosteal surface of an ulnar midshaft and a common ground for loading system 400. The periosteal surface connected to the electrode was dissected free of muscle and was always kept moist with a saline solution. A 16-bit data-acquisition board operated by a computer was used to record streaming potentials at a 250-usec interval. In order to examine statistical significance in the histomorphometric data, ANOVA analysis (using Statview, Version 5.0, available from SAS Institute Inc., of Cary, NC) was conducted with a significance level at p < 0.05. 

Bone histomorphometry with fluorescent cacein-labeling revealed that elbow loading significantly stimulated bone formation. Cross section 405a (FIGS. 6B and 6C) of ulna diaphysis 2.5 mm distal (16% of ulnar length) to elbow 408, clearly showed double labeling 418 on a periosteal surface with a sinusoidal loading for 3 minutes per day for 3 days on the elbow, as compared with cross section 405b of unloaded control ulna. Three bone morphometric parameters, MS/BS (mineralizing surface, p=0.0002), MAR (mineral apposition rate, p=0.045), and BFR/MS (bone formation rate, p=0.012), were significantly increased by elbow loading , as shown in FIGS. 7A-7C. The increase in MS/BS, MAR, and BFR/MS was 3.2-fold, 3.0-fold, and 7.9-fold, respectively. 

Streaming potential, induced by a coupling between ion flux and fluid movement, is a good indicator of strain-induced fluid flow in bone (Beck, B.R., Qin, Y.X., McLeod, K.J., and Otter, M.W. (2002) On the relationship between streaming potential and strain in an in vivo bone preparation. Calcif Tissue Int, 71, 335-343). In response to joint loading at 2 Hz with 0.5-N force, harmonic potentials were observed that were synchronized with the mechanical stimuli, as shown in FIGS. 8A-8C Longitudinal axis loading to ulna 404b, shown in FIG. 5B, one of the conventional bone loading methods to induce strain in cortical bone and bone formation (Tanaka et al., 2003; Robling, A.G. and Turner, CH. (2002) Mechanotransduction in bone: genetic effects on mechanosensitivity in mice. Bone, 31, 562-569), also generated a streaming potential with a magnitude on the same order as lateral joint loading (FIG. 5 A). The histomorphometric data demonstrates that lateral joint loading requires a lower magnitude of loading force (0.5 N peak-to-peak) to induce bone formation than the conventional axial bone loading methods which requires over 1 N peak-to-peak force (Robling et al., 2002). 

Conventionally a joint has been considered as a shock absorber that protects bone from impact loading (Voloshin, A., Wosk J., Brull M. 1981. Force wave transmission through the human locomotor system. J Biomech Eng, 103:48-50). In the first exemplary study, however, joint loading showed a significant increase in bone formation on a periosteal surface of diaphysis cortical bone. It has been well-recognized that the osteogenic responses can be induced by bone strain in vivo (Rubin, C.T. and Lanyon, L. E. (1985) Regulation of bone mass by mechanical strain magnitude. Calcified Tissue International, 37:411-417; Turner, C. H., Forwood, M. R, Rho, J. Y., and Yoshikawa, T. (1994) Mechanical loading thresholds for lamellar and woven bone formation. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, 9:87-97) and fluid flow in vitro (You, J., Yellowly, C. E., Donahue, H. J., Zhang, Y., Chen, Q., and Jacobs, C. R. (2000) Substrate deformation levels associated with routine physical activity are less stimulatory to bone cells relative to loading-induced oscillatory fluid flow. Journal of Biomedical Engineering, 122:387-393). Since streaming potential is an indicator of fluid flow in bone, the data on streaming potentials and bone morphometry demonstrate that joint loading can induce fluid flow and stimulate bone formation without causing strain in cortical bone

Me: This article talks about what was seen when you take two of the most common growth factors TGF-Beta1 and IGF-1 and use them in conjunction with dynamic deformational loading application on hydrogels which are embedded with chondrocytes. Like with a recent post where three patents were analyzed with the idea that you take the chondrocyte in gel form and get that implanted into articular cartilage knee defects and use them to fill up the cartilage this mixture can be used instead of just growth factors. The application of dynamic deformational loading has already been shown to get chondrocyte implanted into hydrogels to cause expansion in volume size.

Note that in normal epiphyseal growth plate cartilage, there is two main components in the cartilage matrix.

1. Proteoglycan – (these two parameters or variable increase with using either growth factor or loading but increased more with them combined)
2. Collagen Type II

We also have something called the equilibrium aggregate modulus. From research and other sources (HERE) it is a term that is calculated taking into account values for thickness, permeability, and the compressive modulus. The equilibirum aggregate modulus is really sort of a way to measure the strength, durability, and viscosity of a cartilage element (or something like that. Not completely sure right now).

Implications for height increase: The researchers said at the end that..“These results support the hypothesis that the combination of chemical and mechanical promoters of matrix biosynthesis can optimize the growth of tissue-engineered cartilage constructs.” What this means that when we do get the LSJL device built, it would be smart to combine it with also growth factors TGF-Beta1 and IGF-1 for maximum effect. To do this for a height increase application, we could just take thick needles and make injections of the two growth factors directly into the long bone epiphysis and then get the LSJL device to dynamically load the epiphysis treating the epiphysis as the hydrogel with chondrocytes encapsulated. We have already proven that lateral dynamic loading on the bone will cause the MSCS inside to differentiate into chondrocytes. Maybe just these two parts is enough but if it is not as effective as hoped, we can add the initial step of injecting hydrogels embedded with chondrocytes first into the epiphysis to begin with through the side, then add the growth factors, and then the loading using the LSJL device. These would allow an initial seed of chondrocytes aggregate to start with and any chondrocyte that results from the growth factor injections or LSJL device loading will layer on top and aggregate with the initial seed after the hydrogel dissolves.

From Link HERE… (Full article on links below)

Synergistic Action of Growth Factors and Dynamic Loading for Articular Cartilage Tissue Engineering

To cite this article:
Robert L. Mauck, Steven B. Nicoll, Sara L. Seyhan, Gerard A. Ateshian, and Clark T. Hung. Tissue Engineering. August 2003, 9(4): 597-611. doi:10.1089/107632703768247304.

Published in Volume: 9 Issue 4: July 9, 2004

• Full Text PDF (5,102.3 KB),   Full Text PDF with Links (4,358 KB)

Author information

Me: Let me first just post the conclusion first from the researchers..

“In the current study we hypothesized that increased expression of both BMP2 and VEGF-A to a tissue-engineered construct seeded with MSCs would augment osteogenesis and angiogenesis. We focused onVEGF-A as this is the major proangiogenic isoform.²¹ Interestingly, we found that codelivery of these growth factors requires optimization as VEGF potently inhibited BMP2 expression. Conversely, BMP2 had little effect on VEGF expression. The inhibition of BMP2 expression by VEGF occurred at the RNA level, and VEGF inhibited the expression of endogenous BMP2 as well as adenovirally delivered BMP2. The latter finding suggests that VEGF inhibition occurs independently of the BMP2 promoter since the adenoviral gene expression was driven by a constitutively active promoter. Taken together, our findings suggest that approaches utilizing concurrent delivery of growth factors require optimization of growth factor concentration.”

Implications for height increase technology: I think it is very clear that unlike what I and many other researchers thought previously we can’t just combine growth factors together without looking at concentration, density, and percentages in mixtures and expect such growth factor compounds to work synergistically. While the VEGF may have bone modulating properties, when combines with BMPS it may inhibit BMPs and that may be the real way it controls bone growth in vivo. In the paper they hypothesis from teh results that it may be VEGF which is one of the causes for endochondral ossification and caus ethe vascularization of the cartilage for real bone cell stacking leading to height increase. If this is the case, then VEGF operates almost in the opposite effect as the Chondromodulin we researched in recent previous posts. Besides decreasing the estrogen levels in the teenagers body or pluggin up the estrogen receptor alpha and beta in the growth plates, we might be able to also manipulate chondromodulin and VEGF to increase and decrease respectively to slow down the ossification coversion process of what is left of the cartilage in the growth plates.

Also, we know that BMP-2 leads to chondrogenesis as well as osteogenesis and we are focused on differentiating those MSCs towards chondrocytes. If we can help in anyway to prevent the MSCs from differentiating into the osteoblasts and only allow for conversion into chondrocytes and chondroblasts we just might be able to eventually cause enough cells in the intermedullary cavity of the epiphysis to result in newly formed growth plates from chondrocyte aggregation. With enough time, maybe even the cell apoptosis and formation cycle using osteclasts to remove old cell waster may allow for an entire section of the bone to be replaced by chondrocytes. This would indeed prove the ultimate path towards growth plate regeneration and validate the theory on why LSJL would even work to make people taller.

From the paper…

“…several factors limit this technique from becoming routine in clinical practice. One of the biggest obstacles to the use of tissue-engineered constructs in reconstruction of tissue defects is the lengthy culture and manufacturing periods required by conventional techniques. For instance, the synthesis of a tissue-engineered bone construct usually requires a 6–12 week culture and seeding period.”

“The use of exogenous growth factors may be a means by which tissue-engineered construct synthesis and vascularization can be accelerated. Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) may be a method by which osteogenesis can be enhanced in a tissue-engineered bone construct since these growth factors are known to promote osseous repair in endochondral and membranous bones.^12–14 BMPs are critical for successful fracture repair and bone development, and exogenous delivery of BMP can induce bone formation in critical-sized bone defects.^15,16 Thus, genetic manipulation of cell-seeded MSC constructs with BMP may represent a viable method to accelerate or augment bone deposition

Similarly, delivery of angiogenic growth factors, such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), may be a means by which vascular ingrowth can be augmented since these molecules regulate angiogenesis. Further, several studies have shown that angiogenesis and osteogenesis are synergistic.^17–20 Thus, genetic modification of cell seeded constructs with VEGF may augment vascular ingrowth and osteogenesis in a tissue-engineered construct, thereby accelerating construct synthesis and angiogenesis.”

From Pubmed study link HERE… (This link  has the full article)

Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Inhibits Bone Morphogenetic Protein 2 Expression in Rat Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Björn H. Schönmeyr, M.D., Marc Soares, M.D., Tomer Avraham, M.D., Nicholas W. Clavin, M.D., Fredrik Gewalli, M.D., Ph.D., and Babak J. Mehrara, M.D., FACS

Yesterday I got a email message sent through the company email account where they forwarded a link where the article was about Pierre Pozzuto and his A-Grow-Bics program in London. Now I have already looked at this guy and his claims in a very recent post entitled “A-Grow-Bics Class With Fitness Trainer Pierre Pozzuto Of Fitness Chain Gymbox Claims To Increase Height Through Microfractures“.

At the conclusion of the previous post I had said that it was difficult to say with confidence that this guy can really help adults grow taller. The one source I was using was an article written by a reporter who tried out Pozzuto’s program for only one day and did not see any increase in her height after she went through the intense training and stretching. Of course the claim was always that the person would see at least a height increase of 2 cm or more after doing the program for 6 weeks or they will get their money refunded. Overall, I did the research and saw that this Pozzuto guy was the real deal and he was a licensed physical trainer based in the UK. This article was from the DailyMail UK. It seems this reporter tried out the program too and she noticed a height increase of 2 inches or 4.9 cm to be more exact.

So what is in the program?

“This revolutionary exercise system blends elements of Pilates, Yoga, cardio exercises and stretching moves; it involves hanging upside down like a bat . . . oh, and being strapped on to a rack…”

It seems there is 7 main parts which goes in this sequence…

1. You first hang on a bar for an extended amount of time, over 30 secs.
2. You get you ankles locked on bar and you are hoisted up and hanging upside down. You than are to try to reach for your ankles and this strengthens core muscles.
3. You get on the ground on your stomach and alternate your limbs to strengthen the core muscles and stretch out.
4. There is an exercise called the “Superman” using cords. Don’t really know what is going on.
5. You do high intensity jumps on boxes as much as possible to increase HGH production levels.
6. You then get on a treadmill to do short sprints at the top speed to increase HGH production levels. This is also where the idea of microfractures come in.
7. You then go to the “rack” which holds the body down with clamps to the wrist and ankles and stretch the spine.

In terms of duration, it was stated..”The whole workout took just under one hour, and Pierre and I went through the same routine once a week for six weeks. I was also given ‘homework’, which involved a few stretches and Pilates exercises,...”

Quote..

• “Participants are measured at the beginning, and again after every session. There was nothing to show for my effort after week one or week two.
• But at the end of week three, I’d grown 0.8cm; by week four, I’d grown 2cm; and by the end of the course I had become an astonishing 4.9cm taller.
• I was stunned, and even Pierre had to measure me twice before we both believed it: six weeks ago, I was 160.5cm (5ft 2in); now I’m 165.4cm (5ft 4in). “

Something I noticed yesterday while I was looking through the Analytics software was that some people were finding my website through searching the term “Jin Fang Grow Taller”. I got curious and wanted to see who was this Jin Fang person. It turned out people were finding my website because of my “Scam List” section where I had listed that the website YingYangEdu.com as a scam and I remembered that I had found the website a long time ago when I was first putting together the website and I had associated the website and the seller as a fraud without really doing the proper due diligence to make sure this person is really a fake.

From the link to the website, I decided to spend at least 10 minutes to really give an accurate look at the possibility that the height increasing pills can work. What I noticed first is that the website is designed with a minimalist style which is a clear difference from the usual type of webpages I find who sell height increase pills. This type of supplement or vitamin Jin Fang is selling is called “Grow Taller Herb Supplement“. When I tried to go to the product page I was lead to a dead link and there was nothing that was being sold.

As for the person, it seems that this Jin Fang is also working with another Chinese traditional medicine doctor named Xue-cheng (John) Shang. They do have a short biography on their background, education, and credentials. Xue-cheng claims he studied medicine in a university in Shanghai and had practiced being a orthopaedic surgeon for over a decade before coming to the US. Jin Fang has been studying acupunture and traditional chinese herbal medicine since she was very young.

It seems that this herbal supplement was created in 1998. She has been practicing traditional chinese herbal medicine since 1983. These two people who are probably husband and wife are based in Fairport, NY.

The issue with this product is that they claim this product is supposed to be used for kids who are young, around the 8-16 age range. Apparently this is when it is the golden age of growth. I can only say “DUH!”. Most kids at that age time are sprouting up like bamboo. This causes a big problem for me as a reviewer. I cant claim it doesn’t work because the kid who ingests this pill probably will grow. However there is no way we can really test for the efficacy of the pills due to the nature of human growth. The only way we probably could test something like this is if we had identical twins and one of them took the pills while the other did not during the 8-16 age range. If there is a sizeable height difference after say 6 months then we might be able to say that this stuff really does have the ability to help increase the height increase growth rate. However as a scientist we can’t create the situation to get this height increase supplement really tested.

As for the idea of traditional Chinese Medicine and herbs have the remote chance of really helping kids grow, I would say there is a chance those claims can be real. Many traditional plants like Ginseng, Ginko Biloba, Garlic, and such which the ancient Chinese Alchemists and Doctors thought to have medicinal property was somehow proven in Western Science Labs in the last 50 years to have some chemicals inside which can do the stuff that was believed in them. As the saying goes, most legends and myths do have a kernel of truth in them, just like in stereotypes. As for other ideas like Acupunture, that alternative medicine practice is now a widely practiced medicine art in many suburban US communities. From the town I was living in just 6 months ago, there was an acupuncturist office in most office spaces. Some medical professionals have tested to see if there is any real effectiveness in acupuncture and the testing shows that it is more than just the placebo effect.

The ancient theories on Ki, chi, and prana have no scientific equivalent. We could say stuff like the “chi” the chinese talked about was really electrical signal pathways, nerve signal pathways, or lymph lode channels to create some form of analogous anatomical sense but we would be guessing.

As for the medicine really working, it might really work. From the website and judging only on a first appearance, it would seem that these people are Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners and the Jin Fang did formulate something which she believes help in the growth rate of children. It may work. However there is not way to say this claim with complete confidence. In my searching and research there has been a least a couple of legends or stories of how adult dwarfs who was suffering from achondroplasia maanged to grow 1-2 inches in height after practicing and using chinese medicine ideas.

As of the right now the website YingYangEdu.com is still up the webpage that sells the pills is not up so I don’t think there is much more that needs to be discussed.

Going off of the topic of the last post I sort of had another flash of insight on why the more I thought about the issue of females who develop this need to always wear high heels. I had been putting all of them in a single category but I think now maybe there is actually two groups.

The last time I looked at my sister, an old girlfriend’s mother, Victoria Beckham, Kim Kardashian, Tila Tequila, and some honorable mentions like Little Kim and Amanda Seyfried. I tried to group them all together into one unque groups, girls who are below average in height who develop height complexes and try to overcompensate by wearing high heels. However that may have been the cause but I forgot to consider what could be the individual girl’s desired intention and result from wearing the high heels. Is the reason they are wearing high heels to look better and be more attractive to the opposite sex, or could there be another darker desire?

First of all, my opinion has to effect whatsoever on the life path and end result of the girls I am trying to psycho-analyze. Maybe today was a slow day and I just wanted to write a long post on some boring mental masturbation topic which will never get more than  5 people ever seeing it. And that’s okay. However maybe this post will help the reader understand the thinking process of girls who feel that they are too short and wish deeply to become taller.

I would divide the groups of girls into two groups, the feminine and the masculine. The feminine are the girls who desire to wear heels so that they can be more liked by guys and be treated better. The masculine are the girls who purposely always wear the high heels to overcome some sort of challenge and feel the need to dominate and intimidate, if that extra height would even work out.

With girls like my old gf’s mother and kim kardashian they are probably more on the feminine side. They probably would love to become taller but if they had to give up their beauty and looks for the size, they wouldn’t because that is what they value most and they express a sort of feminine energy. Even in the boardroom and at work, they still exude a feminine energy and understand that ultimately, the masculine way of competition and dominating is not the better way to handle difficulties. In the city I am in, I would guess most girls are feminine so their reasons are for the feminine ones. They desire to be liked more, fit into society so they don’t get ridiculed, and be more attractive so they get more attention.

With girls like my sister, tila tequila, and victoria beckham they have the masculine energy. At some deep level they really do feel lacking in some quality and they desire to always be in control, and be winning. They would give up their looks for size because their ultimate value is more about controlling, dominating, and winning through competition. At some level they realize most people in the world, but especially men will always be bigger than them. They feel intimidated and feel sort of helpless over the fact that they will never directly know what it feels like to wield that type of strength. They may have tried to using force and just persistence an effort break through social barriers. The perfect example is Hajnal Ban, Australian Politician. She is an aggresive strong female who really goes after what she wants.  Many women who always wear high heels at work say they do it so that they can be lightly more intimidating and strong like a man so that the men and other women will respect them more. This is about respect, which is not a feminine trait. We saw from the People magazine quote by Victoria Beckham that she wanted to break past the modeling fashion industry even when they thought she was not tall enough. She eventually succeeded but for that type of success with so much rejection, a female must develop the types of qualities and traits which would be traditionally thought as masculine.

I think at some core level, anyone who desires to be taller have either a predominantly feminine or masculine reason. There will be a mixture of both reasons but almost always, one of the energies is slightly stronger and larger.

The feminine desire to be taller is to be stop ridicule and bullying, gain more acceptance by other people, win love from a person who might not have considered the person before because of size, and be more attractive. Their way of influence is through compromise and soft seduction.

The masculin desire to be taller is to gain more respect, intimidating, commanding  authority, overcome challenges, and pushing to win in competition. Their way of influence is through charm and persistence.