Increasing Height of Your Child (I)
By Dr. Park Chan-Joo
If your child grows less than 4 centimeters a year, or their present height is 10 centimeters shorter than the average height of children his or her age, you may wish to consult a professional about his or her development.
In general, the growth curve of young people peaks during puberty. However, this is the same time that sex hormones start being secreted, and these hormones disturb the activity of hyaline cartilage and make it harden, which eventually leads to the stoppage of growth. It is said that it takes about 2 years for the cartilage to harden after the body begins developing sex hormones.
Serving as a center of ossification or bone growth, hyaline cartilage is found lining the bones at joints and is also present inside bones. In clinics specializing in children’s growth, the doctors check the X-rays of the cartilage to see if their young patients still have the possibility for further growth. Also, there are tests to show the age of bones or check the secretion of growth hormones.
The reasons why children don’t grow enough can be generally classified by two factors: the innate and the acquired. It is said that the latter is more important.
The innate or inherent factor mainly depends on their parents’ heights and their mothers’ condition during pregnancy.
Among the acquired factors, the most common ones are lack of exercise, lack of nutrition, environment, emotion, disease and lack of sleep. These factors are considered to cause an imbalance in the body’s functions, which in turn reduces the secretion of the growth hormone and blocks the development of bones and organs, and even lowers the effectiveness of the body’s immune system.
According to oriental medicine, two organs _ kidneys and spleen _ play a major role in a child’s growth.
In order for children to grow properly, the innate energy of their kidneys and the acquired energy of their spleen and stomach should work in harmony. When either of them is deficient, growth can be delayed or disturbed.
With this in mind, oriental medical doctors suggest children take herbal medicine to invigorate the kidneys and increase the energy of the digestive organs. Most prescriptions promoting children’s growth also focus on strengthening the muscles and bones and increasing energy, blood and ``chong,’’ an essential nutritious body material that includes the Western medical concept of hormones. In addition, deer velvet is frequently used since it is well known to be effective in increasing the ``yang’’ energy of the kidneys.
However, if a child suffers from medical problems such as rhinitis or other development illnesses, they should be treated for those medical problems prior to starting treatment to increase height.
In the next column, I will share some advice on things that your children can do in their daily lives to potentially increase their height.
Dr.Park Chan-Joo is the chief doctor at Tara Acupuncture & Oriental medicine (www.tara-clinic.com) in Seoul.