MadSci Network: Medicine
Query:

Re: Growth Plates in Bones

Date: Thu May 21 15:07:40 1998
Posted By: Adrian Canale-Parola, General Medical Practitioner
Area of science: Medicine
ID: 895388509.Me
Message:

Hi Peter,

Body growth, hence final height, is determined largely by the growth in 
length of the long bones. At birth, the ends of most long bones still 
consist of cartilage. Gradually, these begin to ossify, but a plate of 
growing cartilage remains at the bone ends. This is called the epiphysial, 
or growth, plate, and continues to produce new cartilage, which increases 
the length of the bone, before this too ossifies. At the end of the 
growing period, division of cartilage cells within the plate ceases, and 
the plate itself ossifies, and normal bone growth stops.

The rate and duration of growth is determined by many factors - genetic, 
nutritional, and hormonal, and it should come as no surprise that there is 
a growth spurt around puberty, when many of the responsible hormones are 
very active. Growth then tails off dramatically after puberty, and ceases 
around the late teens to early twenties.

Over the last ten years or so, artificial stretching of long bones has 
been increasingly used where one or both limbs are abnormally short. This 
involves breaking the bone and attaching the fragments to special steel 
rods which can be lengthened bit by bit. I would imagine that this is a 
painful and difficult process, but has a good success rate.

Best wishes, Doc C-P.


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