Note: A lot of the material and information that I will be posting on this post will also be found on the “Protein/Hormone Signal Pathway Map” Post and also the “Molecular Biology, Biochemistry” section of the website

Note: As like the PI3K/AKT pathway, there is a video you can watch to help make the learning process a little easier from YouTube HERE.

From the wikipedia article on MAPK/ERK pathway HERE.. a simplified version of the MAPK pathway is available below.

The MAPK/ERK pathway is a chain of proteins in the cell that communicates a signal from a receptor on the surface of the cell to the DNA in the nucleus of the cell. The signal starts when a signaling molecule binds to the receptor on the cell surface and ends when the DNA in the nucleus expresses a protein and produces some change in the cell, such as cell division. The pathway includes many proteins, including MAPK (originally called ERK), which communicate by adding phosphate groups to a neighboring protein, which acts as an “on” or “off” switch. When one of the proteins in the pathway is mutated, it can be stuck in the “on” or “off” position, which is a necessary step in the development of many cancers. Components of the MAPK/ERK pathway were discovered when they were found in cancer cells. Drugs that reverse the “on” or “off” switch are being investigated as cancer treatments.

The pathway

Overall, the extra-cellular mitogen binds to the membrane ligand. This allows Ras (a GTPase) to swap its GDP for a GTP. It can now activate MAP3K (e.g., Raf), which activates MAP2K, which activates MAPK. MAPK can now activate a transcription factor, such as myc.

Coupling cell surface receptors to G proteins

Receptor-linked tyrosine kinases such as the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) are activated by extracellular ligands. Binding of epidermal growth factor (EGF) to the EGFR activates the tyrosine kinase activity of the cytoplasmic domain of the receptor. The EGFR becomes phosphorylated on tyrosine residues. Docking proteins such as GRB2 contains an SH2 domain that binds to the phosphotyrosine residues of the activated receptor. GRB2 binds to the guanine nucleotide exchange factor SOS by way of the two SH3 domains of GRB2. When the GRB2-SOS complex docks to phosphorylated EGFR, SOS becomes activated. Activated SOS then promotes the removal of GDP from a member of the Ras subfamily (most notably H-Ras or K-Ras). Ras can then bind GTP and become active.

Apart from EGFR, other cell surface receptors that can activate this pathway via GRB2 include Trk A/B, Fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) and PDGFR.

Kinase cascade

Activated Ras activates the protein kinase activity of RAF kinase. RAF kinase phosphorylates and activates MEK (MEK1 and MEK2). MEK phosphorylates and activates a mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK).

RAF, and MAPK are both serine/threonine-selective protein kinases. MEK (also known as MAPKK) is a tyrosine/threonine kinase.

In the technical sense, RAF, MEK, and MAPK are all mitogen-activated kinases, as is MNK. MAPK was originally called “extracellular signal-regulated kinases” (ERKs) and “microtubule-associated protein kinase” (MAPK). One of the first proteins known to be phosphorylated by ERK was a microtubule-associated protein (MAP). As discussed below, many additional targets for phosphorylation by MAPK were later found, and the protein was renamed “mitogen-activated protein kinase” (MAPK). The series of kinases from RAF to MEK to MAPK is an example of a protein kinase cascade. Such series of kinases provide opportunities forfeedback regulation and signal amplification.

Regulation of translation and transcription

Three of the many proteins that are phosphorylated by MAPK are shown in the Figure. One effect of MAPK activation is to alter the translation of mRNA to proteins. MAPK phosphorylates 40S ribosomal protein S6 kinase (RSK). This activates RSK, which, in turn, phosphorylates ribosomal protein S6.^[5] Mitogen-activated protein kinases that phosphorylate ribosomal protein S6 were the first to be isolated.^[4]

MAPK regulates the activities of several transcription factors. MAPK can phosphorylate C-myc. MAPK phosphorylates and activates MNK, which, in turn, phosphorylates CREB. MAPK also regulates the transcription of the C-Fos gene. By altering the levels and activities of transcription factors, MAPK leads to altered transcription of genes that are important for the cell cycle.

The 22q11, 1q42, and 19p13 genes are associated with schizophrenia, schizoaffective, bipolar, and migraines by affecting the ERK pathway.

From wikipedia link on MAPK/ERK Pathway HERE, I will post a picture of the pathway below for analysis

Analysis & Interpretation:

This pathway has an overall similar structure and area of function as the Wnt/Beta-Catenin Signal Pathway as we have seen before. It is a protein chain or cascade signal pathway where the chain of protein interactions start off at the outer surface of the cell, in the plasma membrane. The outer receptors on the bi-lipid layer gets attached to what is known as a signal molecule. The end result is that the DNA is affected in a certain way from a multiple of cascading signalling pathways to produce or cause a certain type of protein to be either increased or decreased in number, which will affect the overall cell.

The effect on the cell can be just as that it will be told by the proteins produced to focus mainly on differentiation, replication, division, proliferation, apoptosis, etc.

The reason the pathway is called the MAPK/ERK pathways is because one of the more major components in this cascade or chain is the MAPK which used to be called the ERK. The MAPK stands for Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase and the ERK stands for Extracellular-Signal-Regulated Kinases. Like most other protein kinases, their job is to add on a phosphate group to some protein that is close by to it in the intracellular matrix to turn it either “on” or “off”.

Overall there is one major overall pathway or cascades going on, with many smaller more individual pathways all happening.

1. Extracellular mitogen binds to the membrane ligand –> Something called a RAS changes the GDP its has for a GTP –> This actives the a type of protein kinase group called MAP3K (one of the proteins in the MAP3K group is RAF) to signal and activate the kinase group MAP2K which signals and activates the kinase group MAPK. The protein kinase group MAPK ultimate can effect transcription factors like MYC (have no idea what that is right now).

• The membrane ligand or membrane receptor can be like a epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). These receptors are linked beforehand to another kinase.
• The extracellular mitogen can be like a epidermal growth factor (EGF). Another name for the extrecellular mitogen is the extracellular ligands

The result is that there will be some types of residues formed from the activation of the receptor linked to the kinase. Different types of proteins which then dock on the kinase will get phosphorylated and this will in effect activate other proteins around it. From the diagram below we can see that at some stage of the multiple cascading web of protein signal pathways, the p38 MAPK protein kinase will have an effect on around 10 other neighboring proteins and compounds.

At this point, I have decided to end my detailed study on the MAPK/ERK signaling pathway here because the details I feel at not important at this stage of the research. Maybe later at some point this post and my knowledge on signaling pathways will be needed to be updated and improved upon.

From the Biocarta website I found another picture for analysis (source HERE) below…

{Tyler-Related Paper:

ERK1 and ERK2 regulate chondrocyte terminal differentiation during endochondral bone formation.

“Chondrocytes in the epiphyseal cartilage undergo terminal differentiation prior to their removal through apoptosis. To examine the role of ERK1 and ERK2 in chondrocyte terminal differentiation, we generated Osterix (Osx)-Cre; ERK1(-/-) ; ERK2(flox/flox) mice (conditional knockout Osx [cKOosx]), in which ERK1 and ERK2 were deleted in hypertrophic chondrocytes. These cKOosx mice were grossly normal in size at birth, but by 3 weeks of age exhibited shorter long bones. Histological analysis in these mice revealed that the zone of hypertrophic chondrocytes in the growth plate was markedly expanded. In situ hybridization and quantitative real-time PCR analyses demonstrated that Matrix metalloproteinase-13 (Mmp13) and Osteopontin expression was significantly decreased, indicating impaired chondrocyte terminal differentiation. Moreover, Egr1 and Egr2, transcription factors whose expression is restricted to the last layers of hypertrophic chondrocytes in wild-type mice, were also strongly downregulated in these cKOosx mice. In transient transfection experiments in the RCS rat chondrosarcoma cell line, the expression of Egr1, Egr2, or a constitutively active mutant of MEK1 increased the activity of an Osteopontin promoter, whereas the MEK1-induced activation of the Osteopontin promoter was inhibited by the coexpression of Nab2, an Egr1 and Egr2 co-repressor. These results suggest that MEK1-ERK signaling activates the Osteopontin promoter in part through Egr1 and Egr2. Finally, our histological analysis of cKOosx mice demonstrated enchondroma-like lesions in the bone marrow that are reminiscent of human metachondromatosis, a skeletal disorder caused by mutations in PTPN11. Our observations suggest that the development of enchondromas in metachondromatosis may be caused by reduced extracellular signal-regulated kinase/mitogen-activated protein kinase (ERK MAPK) signaling.”

Me: I had posted recently about the fact that I have had many free copies of E-Products available for download in the “downloads” section of the website and I mentioned that I had at least an old copy of the E-Product “Grow Taller 4 Idiots”. One of the regular readers expressed his opinion on the product and another reader responded to the one reader and mentioned about this website and product which I have not seen before which links to a website instaheight.com. I got a chance to look at it earlier today. From a first glance, it was clear that this website was to sell another height increase E-Product. 

Since I have not done a product review in a while, I guess I wanted to do a slightly more detailed analysis on this product before making any judgements. The first thing I notice is that the page is a very long sales page. I scroll down to the bottom and see that there is 2 height increase products being sold with a third E-Book added on Strength Training. The three products are…

1. 10 Steps To Extra Height – Inch Adding, Get Taller Today – Authors: Deavon Stoller &

2. Human Growth Hormone – HGH Explained, Understanding InstaHEIGHT Super Massing – Authors: Deavon Stoller & 

3. Darren O’ Connell – Training For Power And Strength – Author: Deaven Stoller &

All the products are copyrighted on 2009. At the bottom they lowered the price of these 3 products from $97 to $67.

If you actually click on the download button, you realize that the 3 E-Products are stuff you get from the biggest E-Product market place on the net, Clickbank. I personally have never trusted any of the products that is exchanged on Clickbank personally because I used to be part of that IM community.

First, right off the bat they make two stupid mistakes.

1. They said that the average height of Korean men is 5′ 4″. If they were talking about North Koreans, then they are right but the average height of South Korean men is actually around 5′ 9″-5′ 10″. Why would this website want to show the average height of North Korean soldiers when the nations they were talking about was on the Polish, Chinese, and Vietnamese soldiers.

2. The picture they have on Mia Ku in 1997 may be 5′ 7″ but the picture next to her is NOT Mia Ku in 200 but of Dana Torres, Olympic medalist who is well known to be 5′ 11.5″ . They are not the same person.

The Science/Theory: It seems that the people who wrote the book are trying two ways to make you taller: One way is to thicken the cartilage disks in your vertebrate. If I remember correctly though at adult stages, there is very little cartilage if there is any at all. From our studies we  remember that the disks are not really made of cartilage, but a collagenous fibrous material. You have the vertebrate bone that is attached to ligaments which are attached to the outer and inner collagenous material. If there was any cartilage left it would be at the very outer edges. The other way that the products talks about is from “how to stimulate the growth platelets on a cellular level and where the easiest and quickest activity occurs”. I am not familiar with the possibility of using growth platelets on a cellular level. I know there are growth factors that are platelet derived but I have not done enough research on this type of growth factor yet. The idea they are talking about Super Massing is as  they describe it “The stress applied to the body is not to build muscle but to ignite the body to release HGH”. As we already know excess HGH release will only cause extremity and facial features who enlarge after growth plate closure.

There is two big claims from the webpage which I found to be rather incredible. They are

1. Our employee Sung Xiavi works remotely in China and her full time job is at the “secratariate commission of the peoples health”. She mentioned the document in one of our podcast business meetings and we took the opportunity to access the materials with her translation efforts. This material is high classed confidential government information.

2. Does it really increase penis size in men?

Yes, in all cases, the genitals including the testicles grow in volume and size. In men this process produces much testosterone naturally which is the main driver of genital size. An increase in the genitals in men is a typical outcome along with the height gains.

Also, at the bottom is a disclaimer with this message…

Disclaimer

Me: I was planning on moving onto another subject in my posts when Tyler sent me a message asking if I could do slightly more research on what could be causing these women to get taller. So here is my attempt to understand and guess at the cause.

What we know right now is that there is a decent percentage of women who found that they have grown in height during and after pregnancy. If I was to take a guess at the rate or percentage, it could be as low as 1 out of 10,000 women or even as high as 1 out of every 100 women, so my guess is that it is probably around 0.01%-1% . I don’t believe that this type of thing can happen that much more prevalently. However, any case of height increase in anyone past the normal age of maturity is an interesting case to look into.

Feet Size Increase

What we know is that the phenomena of feet expanding and the need to buy bigger shoes is a commonly cited and found in pregnancy guides. If it was really just the muscle relaxing, then it should only cause the feet to get wider, not longer. However there are women who said that their shoe size went up by 2-3 sizes. Most women’s shoes that I know have also extra wide variations. This means that technically women don’t need to switch to a higher size, since size is defined by length, not wide. The width of one’s feet can be switch in shoes with Extra Wide pairs. Of course we could say that the feet just got proportionately bigger, in width and length. That would make more sense but the increase of shoe size by 3 shoe sizes is beyond what i could imagine swelling can do, especially since the feet never shrink back in size after the pregnancy. 1 shoe size increase is about 0.5 cm in extra length. That means that a 3 size increase is a 1.5 cm increase in feet length. From the picture on the right (found from source HERE) I guess it might be possible for the feet’s ligaments to relax enough to cause even 1 cm of length increase.

Hands Size Increase

From links like HERE we know that many women during pregnancy can’t wear their wedding rings. Since the ring must always overcome the diameter of the knuckle joints, it makes sense that what is really blocking the fingers from the ring are the knuckles. The knuckles have become swollen and enlarged. If the entire finger has swelled , then that is the result of the muscle relaxant. If the reason the ring can’t get there is only from the knuckles, we can say that the pregnancy is doing something to the joints, specifically the cartilage at the synovial joints in the metacarpals of the hands. Using this type of logic we can say that it is possible the height increase was from a pregnancy induced swelling of the articular cartilage on synovial joints in general. It is a very common thing for pregnant women to notice pain and swelling in their ankles and wrists.

Height Increase

If we assume the hormone/endocrinology reason for the height increase, we have to see what types of hormones could cause this. From this link HERE…we can see a list of all the major hormones which are involved in pregnancy.

What I notice right away is that the Progesterone and O-estrogen are produce from the same location as Natural Growth Hormones. However it is also noted that during pregnancy the GH secretion decreases.

Note: What is critical to realize is that during pregnancy most women are not thinking about their height at all so even if they did increase in height, they would never realize it since they are too preoccupied with other issues, like pain, swollen joints, nausea, mood swings, etc. Height is the last thing on a pregnant woman’s mind. This might pin-point to the idea that it could be that height  increase might be slightly more common than reported. 

If we use the diagram on the left (from HERE) we notice that the Luteinizing Hormone (LH) and Follicle-Stimulating Hormone (FSH) are both produced from the pituitary gland at around the anterior pituitary region just like the GH pathway.

I remember that the FSH is a type of growth hormone. FSH regulates the development, growth, pubertal maturation, and reproductive processes of the body.

Using the wiki article on FSH located HERE we see that high levels of FSH can lead to Klinefelter’s syndrome. What is amazing is that I have found a few PubMed articles that show that people who have Klinefelter’s syndrome exhibit tall stature. I was actually going o write up a post relating Klinefelter’ syndrome with height since there is a big connection.

From the diagram on the right (found HERE) we can see that the release and rate of release of the major hormones during the time intervals of pregnancy, assuming a 9.5 month gestation cycle.

I am going to have to use a little bit of elementary physics to explain my reasoning for the next part. In general, the way many phenomena can be explained in nature is through differential equations, which one can solve usually using approximation methods to model dynamic behavior of the world around us. This is why the exponential function is so commonly seen in nature, since the differential and integral function of the exponential is the exponential itself.

Both newton’s original motion laws and einstein’s general theory of relativity showed that a rate that is constant will not produce changes, but require a change in rate.

When looking at this diagram, I would guess that the only time and range which height increase probably would happen is during a interval where the hormone release rate increased, which implies a change of a change, or an acceleration. Looking at the diagram, I really have only one small fact to go off of which is that one mother said that her height was measured from the 12th week with no height change and her height was measured in the 22 week and she saw an increase of 2.5 inches. If we look at the graph to see whether there are any hormones which saw an increase in rate of release (aka acceleration) which in calculus terms is what is known as a concave inflection point moving upwards. The graphs seems to suggest that it is either the O-estrogen or the progesterone.

Note: I will look at the possible connection between progesterone and o-estrogen and height and growth in another post. 

From this ParentDish.Co we learn that during pregnancy a lot of the Calcium in the mother’s system gets absorbed by the baby. Teeth loss and bleeding gums are very common. This might help explain the height increase. Maybe one of the only ways to increase height is to make the bones weaker by removing the calcium hypoxilates. from the same source link I quote this “Rachel agrees: “My ribcage expanded after my first pregnancy, and some of my bras and dresses are too tight across there now.””. This seems to suggest that maybe the hormones can get into whatever cartilage or even bones and get them to get bigger somehow. We learned from a previous post that the cartilage in the sternum ossify far later than the growth plate cartilage in the limbs. This women might have had her cartilage in the sternum increase in size.

Further Analysis: From using what little information I could gather, it seems that women who experience the height increase are usually shorter than average with the forum posts saying they were around the 5’0-5’3″ mark. One women said it was not her torso which increased in length. Many said they say height gain in their 3rd pregnancy, others in their first pregnancy. One commented her height increase happened only when she was giving birth to her only daughter. One women said that her gain was around the 12-22 week time period.

Theory 1: If I was to guess I would say that the phenomena is actually catch up growth at work. These women who are shorter than average had stunted growth. Since O-estrogen and progesterone has been used in traditional history for tall girls to stop growth, they are just like extrados and estrogen. They cause a boost in the aging process of growth plates. I can assume that the growth plates for the short females never fully sealed. The increase shot of progesterone and o-estrogen release into the body caused the growth plates to give the last lurch in longitudinal growth from whatever chondrocytes were still around the little bit of growth plate that was left.

Theory 2: The edema they develop causes so much extra water to go into their synovial joints swelling everything up. The swelling of water (in knees and ankles) gets into the articular cartilage. Remember that salt causes edema to happen since the water molecule moves from higher water concentration to lower water molecule concentration (from source HERE). Somehow one of the pregnancy hormones gets more salt into the cartilage and the water goes in the cartilage causing it to expand. The expansion might get into any chondrocytes in the articular cartilage and get them to hypertrophy which floats randomly and sometimes get to the one epiphysis bone surface. The progesterone comes along and takes some of the chondrocytes and ossify them leading to longitudinal growth. Of course this is all assuming that there are still come chondrocytes still in the articular cartilage and the randomness is not completely random but is more prone to land on the bone surface, and that the blood vessels supplying to the cartilage ends can reach to the hypertrophic chondrocytes.

The same story and study is also reported on the following sites:  Google News, The Australian, ABC News, IVF1, and many more websites

Me: My guess along with the researcher is that when the embryo chosen to be used for fertilization, the people at the clinic happened to choose the best, largest, healthiest looking one to use. It is strange that females had the most pronounced effects.

From Phys.Org…

IVF births result in taller children: NZ study October 14, 2010 Children born using in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) are likely to be taller than their naturally conceived counterparts, New Zealand researchers have found.

The study by Auckland University’s Liggins Institute found IVF children conceived from fresh, rather than frozen, embryos were about 2.6 centimetres (1.02 inches) taller than non-IVF children by the age of six. The research, which examined about 200 children, found the height difference was statistically significant, even after adjusting for variables such as the parents’ height. Liggins Institiute director Wayne Cutfield said the phenomenon was most striking in girls. “At this stage, we don’t know what the catalyst for that is,” he told Radio NZ on Thursday. Cutfield said appeared IVF children from fresh embyros had a different hormone profile to regular children, which could promote growth. This could be caused by the drugs mothers took to induce ovulation during the conception process or by the culture medium the embryos were developed in for 36 hours before being transferred to the womb, he said. Cutfield said another possibility was that medical workers simply picked the largest, most developed embryos because they were most likely to survive the IVF process. He said the study showed the need for more research into children born through IVF, which has assisted in up to four million births globally over the past 32 years. “There’s been remarkable little research done on IVF children,” he said. “There’s been several studies that have looked at intelligence and cognitive function that havent shown any differences with IVF. This is the first study that’s looked very precisely at growth resultation and metabolism.” Cutfield was sceptical about previous studies suggesting IVF children were more prone to conditions such as asthma and arthritis, saying the finding could be explained by other factors. “Within the IVF cohort, children are more likely to be born particularly small at birth, they are more likely to be born premature, there are more likely to be twins and triplets,” he said. “They’re all groups of children who are likely to have greater health problems and you need to be able to adjust for that.” British scientist Bob Edwards, whose pioneering work made possible the birth of the first IVF baby Louise Brown in 1978, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine this month. (c) 2010 AFP

From News Medical…

Taller kids with IVF: Study

Published on October 13, 2010 at 10:13 PM ·

Me: I found this rather fun and cute story about the link between the time of year a baby is born and the height they will eventually reach. They seem to be 0.5 cm taller than ones born in the winter which is sort of a large difference. I guess that means I better start making babies during the Fall the previous year.

From The DailyMail UK…

The sunshine babies: Children grow taller if their pregnant mothers enjoyed a summer in the sun

By JENNY HOPE
UPDATED: 20:46 GMT, 3 February 2009

It’s called the sunshine vitamin and it seems it smiles on mothers giving birth in late summer and early autumn.

Babies born after their pregnant mothers have enjoyed a big dose of summer sun are taller and stronger-boned than those born in winter and spring, according to a major study.

Researchers reckon the reason is the boost some sunshine gives to levels of vitamin D, which works with calcium to build bones.

Late summer and early autumn babies also have wider, denser bones setting them up for a healthier adulthood.

The body makes most vitamin D from sunlight, rather than diet, but sun exposure is controversial
because it can trigger skin cancer.

However, the Children of the 90s project – an 18-year study from Bristol University – provides evidence that the sunshine vitamin is important for bone-building in youngsters even while in the womb.

Its researchers recommend that women pregnant in the summer get plenty of sun by walking around outside or even sunbathing.

Those expecting between November and May – when sunlight levels are low – should consider vitamin supplements.

The Food Standards Agency advises ten micrograms (1,000mcg equal one milligram) a day of vitamin D in pregnancy.

Researchers looked at the likely sun exposure of the mothers of 7,000 children in the last three months of pregnancy.

At the age of ten the youngsters were measured and given x-rays scans to determine bone density.

Children born to mothers with the highest sun exposure were on average half a centimetre taller – a fifth of an inch – than those born in the darkest months.

Summer and autumn babies also had around five inches of extra bone area due to increases in bone width.

The results are the latest from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children which enrolled 14,000 mothers at pregnancy in 1991 and 1992 and has followed most of the children and parents since.

A study spokesman said: ‘Perhaps people shouldn’t be quite so terrified of the sun.

‘There’s been a lot of panic about skin cancer, but people don’t need to panic about the odd few minutes of exposure.

‘A little controlled English sun is better than none. Or go to the Bahamas!’

Me: So after the quick google search I thought the results and posting would end but they seem to only increase in number and the stories are vast in number. There is something going on here which I can’t explain. Tyler would try to say that the growth plates never fully disappeared because their senescence was slower from DNA methylation or something. I would say that the correlation is with whatever hormone increases were occurring during pregnancy.

My Theory: These women are now eating for two. Their appetite goes up, their food intake increases, and this is very similar to what happens during puberty where the young adolescent starts to eat at an extremely high rate. However it doesn’t explain why they would ever gain height. In terms of symptomes, their food intake resembles teenagers who are going though puberty eating everythiing. One women who is 41 gains 1 inch and another woman gains 3 inches through pregnancy.

From BabyCenter.Com… there is one post of a women who noticed her pants have gotten shorter and she doesn’t fit in them anymore.

From TheBump.Com community…

01-21-2011 at 10:57 PM

jennlynn53 Joined on 07-21-2010 Louisiana 25 Posts 378 Points Growing taller because of pregnancy? Is it possible for pregnancy to give you a growth spurt of some kind? I have been 5’3” since I was 12/13 and I had my FI measure me and I am now 5’5”. I tried searching on the web for an answer but I just kept coming to dead ends. So has this happened to anyone else? Or has anyone heard of such a thing? TIA

Me: This woman poster was measured 9-10 months ago and she was 5’3″. Now she is 5′ 5″ and she is 23. However a reply on the same board link is even crazier. Read below…

sfuqua1 Joined on 11-16-2010 1 Posts 15 Points

Even though my doctor said it’s impossible he can’t deny that I have grown.  I was 26 during my first pregnancy.  I started the pregnancy at 5’1 and ended it at 5’3.  I stayed at 5’3 for two years and then got pregnant again.  I am now 28 and started this pregnancy at 5’3 and already at 7 1/2 months pregnant I have grown to 5’4.  I seem to gain 1-2 inches with every pregnancy.  My doctor has no explanation for this and neither does the internet.  But it’s such a relief to know I’m not the only “freak” 🙂 out there who is doing this!

April 17th, 2012, 11:19 PM

TuckrLeesMommy  Mega Super Mommy Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Michigan Posts: 1,289

Hey ladies, so something interesting has just recently come to my attention. I am almost 22 weeks pregnant now, i am due the end of august. I am 22 years old and i have a younger sister who is 12. now i am on the shorter side, i have been 5 foot even since i was 17. Just before my 3 month mark i was weighed and measured for my first WIC appointment at my local Health Department, and once again i was about 5 foot even. Well my 12 year old younger sister has been about a 1/4 inch taller than me for several months now, well just a few days ago she was standing next to me and i realized that i was looking down to talk to her. my mom laughed (she frequently ribs me about my height) and stood us back to back and proclaimed that i was indeed taller than my sister, when just a few months before we had done the same and my little sis was taller. My mom immediately measured me and i’ll be ****** the tape measure read clearly… 5′ 2 1/2″ somehow i had gained over 2 inches of height!!! now i have scoured the internet and i cant find ANY medical findings on this, but a few other accounts of women asking something similar. has anyone else had this? has pregnancy caused anyone else to grow? is there a name for this kind of phenomenon?

Me: This girl who is 22 was first measured at 3 months of pregnancy (12 weeks) at 5 feet tall and in the 22 week she is measured at 5′ 2.5″ which means over a 2 inch increase over 10 weeks. I could say that she is unique at age 22 for having another growth spurt. Since she is rather short I could claim that catch up growth is what caused it.

From the website Mothering.Com…

Getting taller during pregnancy?