Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Do i have constitutional growth delay?

I'm guessing that you're somewhere around 5'5" or so if you're in the 10th percentile. It's hard to say if this is a delay or if you simply have constitutionally shorter stature. That depends on the height of your parents and your own health. Did your parents have a very late growth spurt in height? Did something occur that caused you to drop from average birth length to a drop to the 3rd percentile? Medication? Illness? Injury? All of those things could have had an effect. Since you're seeing your doctor, ask if your bone growth points have closed yet. An x-ray of your wrist can give a quick answer that might let you know what to expect. There's not much that can be done at this point in your development. Human Growth Hormones are both expensive and not particularly effective at your age. You might grow more yet, but you should also accept that by 16 the growth points are beginning to close. If you stay in the same percentile group you would reach a final height of 5'6" or 5'7". You might end up a bit short, but not very short. You're not going to make the basketball team at that height, but it won't stop you from doing anything else you want in your life...that is unless you let it.

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