When my now 15 year old son was around 14 years old, his pediatrician pointed out to me that if he continued to follow the growth curve he was on, he may end up being below average height as an adult. The doctor asked how tall his father and I are, and we are both above average height, as well as our other three sons being well over six feet tall. For some reason, my youngest son seemed to be lagging behind in his growth and didn’t yet appear to show any of the typical signs of the onset of puberty. I was then given an order to have my son do a bone age x-ray, which would help his doctors determine if he was ultimately going to be shorter than average.
A bone age study is a simple x-ray of the hand, wrist, and fingers, and is a fast and painless procedure for the child. This test can help determine when the child will enter puberty. Bone age is measured in years, and may not correlate with the child’s numerical age. This x-ray allows doctors to estimate the maturity of the bone growth in relation to the biological age of the child. While a child is still growing, the bones have areas at both ends that allow for further growth. They are knows as growth plates. As a child is still growing, there are still spaces between the bones, and when they are finished growing, the bones then fuse together when they reach their full length. In my son’s case, it was determined that his bone age was a full year behind his actual age, meaning that he was still going to experience more growth.
Had the results proven otherwise, we had another option to consider that could allow my son to grow a few more inches than nature originally destined for him. This would involve the use of a synthetic growth hormone, which would be administered in the form of injections. These growth hormones can only be effective during a small window of time during which the child is going through puberty, because once the bones fuse, it’s too late and your child’s height is what it is, nothing further can be done. I had been told I needed to make the decision very soon if my son’s bone age results came back showing he was already in puberty.
Knowing there was only a small window of opportunity in which to decide to do these hormone injections, I called my ex-husband before our son has his bone age x-ray to get his thoughts on the matter. He and I both agreed that not everyone on the planet has to be tall, and we agreed to let nature take it’s course and see what happened. Personally, I knew that he would still grow, and wasn’t too concerned about him being extremely short.
Most of the time growth hormone injections are reserved for children who have certain diseases that affect the levels of growth hormone, have genetic growth disorders, or specific orthopedic problems. The bone age test helps doctors determine the timing for certain treatments these children may need to undergo. Keep in mind, these growth hormone injections are not for parents who want their child to be tall enough to play in the NBA, and is only used for serious cases in which children meet certain criteria. According to Dr. Phyllis Speiser, Chief of Pediatric Endocrinology at Scneider Children’s Hospital in New Hyde Park, a child needs to be 2 to 2.5 deviations below the mean for age to qualify for the growth hormone injections.
Synthetic growth hormone has been used since the mid 1980s and has been deemed safe, although there are some reservations as to it’s safety. Some children receiving the growth hormone have since developed scoliosis. Although there is not a clear association between use of growth hormone and cancer, some fear that because this drug stimulates additional cell growth, that it may lead to development of cancer. Therefore, this is a decision not to be taken lately by any parent.
My son has suddenly sprouted up like Jack’s beanstalk, virtually overnight. Over the past six month, he has definitely grown several inches and is now almost 5ft 6 inches and continuing to grow. If your child is a late bloomer, discuss the bone age testing with their pediatrician to see what options are available to you. Be sure to weight the risks against the possibility of having a child a bit shorter than average height.
