Discrepancy in Leg Length and Height Projections

Some guys keep on growing into their early 20's.
Is there any chance his right leg might have a growth spurt and catch up?
Also, the Dr said he'd grow 4 more inches - in that time frame (between now and 16).
He might continue to grow beyond that time frame (from 16 to 21).
Our son has grown 4 inches in a single year and he did this on 3 separate occasions when he was 4 yrs old, 6 yrs old and the last time at 8 yrs old.
The rest of the time he'd hedge up a half inch every so often when we weren't expecting it.
The growing pains were horrible.
He's 14 (will be 15 end of Oct) and he's 6 ft 1 inch right now (same height as his father) but I hardly think he's finished growing.
Why is your son seeing an orthopedic surgeon?
Is he having back or hip or gait problems due to leg length discrepancy (LLD)?

http://www.childrensorthopaedics.com/lld.html

Apparently only 1/4 of all people have legs that are exactly the same length.
Since the difference between the legs is less than 2.5 cm, a heel lift for the shoe of the shorter leg would be a fix for now.
I'd shy away on fusing any growth plates for now unless that were to only option left to fix a serious problem.

Huh. I think it's weird to say he will"stop growing" at 16. I have had 9 brothers... 5 of them documented their growth after 16... One grew a good 5 inches between 17-21!

Of course, if he was in there looking at e growth plates, maybe the doctor is able to accurately predict how much growth he has.

Personally, I wouldn't do anything irreversible... Or at least get a second opinion.

Sorry but I'm going to throw more questions than answers at you - did he say that he would only grow 4 more inches or that the legs would only grow 4 more inches? Some of his additional height would come from above the waist.

Second...when you look at his growth charts over the years, is there a steady progression? What percentile is he normally in? If you track his percentile through age 18, where does it put him in terms of height? What has his pediatrician suggested as a height for him? My oldest is 15 and 6 feet tall. He grew 7 inches (5'3 - 5'10) from age 13.5 to 14.5 and then another 2 inches from 14.5 - 15. He's not done growing yet - he'll probably top out at 6'2, which is where his pedi has always targeted his height - that's 11 inches of growth after age 13.5. Another quick prediction of male height is to take their height at his 3rd birthday and double it and that's usually accurate within a few inches.

All that said...whatever reason you saw the surgeon to begin with might indicate that his growth pattern would not be the normal growth pattern. Is there some issue that would make him predict such little growth?

Finally...boys are not necessarily done growing at 16. I have two very tall cousins who were 6 feet tall in high school who added another inch or two of height in college. One is 6'3 and the other is 6'4. My brothers both grew until they were around 18 or 19.

If you are unsure, get a second opinion. The doctor should be able to project some of his growth projections by his growth plates but I would still seek another's opinion.

All I can say is you stop growing when you stop growing. My brother and I grew after high school. He grew 2 inches and I grew 1/2 an inch.

If the length discrepancy isn't bothering your son, then I wouldn't worry about it now. But if you're super concerned, get a 2nd opinion.

Not sure about the other issues you are talking about, but I grew 4 inches in college. 5'2 going in and came out 5'6. However, I was also late to puberty. (I didn't start my period until I was almost 16.) So the late growth spurt wasn't surprise.

My husband and my dad both grew to over 6 feet in college, and both were not quite there at 16. I think that it's too difficult to say for sure a child will stop growing at a certain age.

I wouldn't do anything if it isn't bothering him. That seems like such a small difference to me that I would really leave it alone and see how it plays out. Not sure why he was in there in the first place, so maybe other issues would have me change my answer.

But as far as height, I think a doctor saying for sure that in two years your son will stop growing is like saying he found gold at the end of a rainbow.

All due respect to our well-trained and hard-working physicians, but this sounds extremely incorrect to me (the growth spurt and height prediction). My husband continued growing into his 20s and I had a 3inch growth spurt at 20 myself.

I am getting this from my boys' pedi that they are going to be "short" I just look at him and say, "we'll agree to disagree on that one."

I do agree with one point. If it isn't bothering him, let his body work itself out - or go see a chiropractor to see if any level of adjustments can help alleviate the symptoms before having bones fused, etc.

Y 14 my boys were 6 ft. Final height 6'3" and 6'4" so your docs prediction sounds about right. Usually reach there full height by 16 or so.

I can't see your other responses, but one of my legs is shorter than the other. Can't remember how much, about 1/4 - 1/2 inch I believe. I found out as a young teen (34 now) and wore a small heel lift in my shoe for a while. I'm normally in flip flops so didn't always wear and haven't in years! Honestly, I walk with a small limp, but not noticeable. My hips are uneven on x-rays as well. If your son is in sports and okay otherwise I would advise against surgery. My spine has a slight curve from it, but I've never had any problems. Not to say everyone isn't different!

As far as the height, has your pedi not been telling you where he thinks he'll end up? Both my kids have a growth chart at their pedi and if they stay on track the dr has told us where they will end up. We're both 5'7" and they say my 13 y/o son will be about 5'9". Of course, all that can change. Boys can grow until their about 21. I don't think anyone can tell you with 100% certainty when they'll stop growing at 16. I wouldn't worry about that. There are to many factors.

Don't fuse your kid's leg. Let him grow naturally, and if the leg is bothering him there's a much simpler fix - have a slight lift built onto the bottom of his shoe. Any shoe repair shop can do this for you. I dated a guy who had been in a motorcycle accident and lost part of a bone that shortened his leg by several inches. He wore a lift on the bottom of his shoe. It wasn't very noticeable. As others have stated, people keep on growing into their 20's. Give him a chance to grow on his own!

I have a picture of me standing next to a guy our senior year in high school. He's shorter than me. I'm just over 5'. He's now about 6' tall. He had a huge growth spurt during his college years and shot up.

First of all, I'm curious as to the reason you had him at an orthopedist getting him scanned in the first place. IS it bothering him? It doesn't sound like it, or the doc wouldn't have said "if it isn't bothering him...."
So... first off, I would want to know what he was doing there in the first place. Whatever the reason is, could possibly have an affect on your responses.

I am also curious that you said you and your husband are both tall and that your 14 year old son is 5'3". Has it not ever occurred to you before that he was small for his age? How small is he? What I mean is, is it just his height? Or are there other evidences of smallishness. We had a friend of our family who also had tall parents, he was the firstborn. The next 2 kids (younger) after him were taller than he was, by far. But he wasn't just short. He also had small hands. So small in fact, he was teased about it.

They took him for some testing and found that his body wasn't producing an adequate amount of growth hormone. They ended up getting him into a program where he took daily injections (apparently, the injections do not make you grow any taller than you would ordinarily minus any issues, but just corrects the low amount of growth hormone so that the person attains their natural expected height). After 2 years or so on the injections, he did grow (he was around 13 at the beginning I think and had not begun any sort of growth spurt whatsoever). Last time I saw him he was about 18 or 19 years old and around 5'10". At age 13 or so, he was close to the same height as my own son was at age 8 or 9. MY son is now 15, and is 5'7". Neither me or my husband are considered "tall". I am 5' 6.5", my husband is 5'9".

I would look into a reason behind why he is not growing. Maybe you have latent short genes in your family... but maybe there is more going on that you are aware of. And depending, it could be something treatable.

Well... my husband was "supposed" to be 6'8" based upon the growth projection of his pediatrician when he was a child, and his sister was "supposed" to be 6'. They ended up at 6'1" and 5'8", so obviously growth predictions are not always accurate.

As far as the legs being different lengths, a girl at our ballet studio recently had surgery for this. Since she's a dancer, the difference in lengths affected her on a daily basis, and I guess her pediatrician has been keeping an eye on the situation for several years. She's 13 now, and her pedi estimates that she has about 1.5 years left to grow. So, a few months ago, she had the surgery on her tibia. It seemed to consist of just a small nick taken out of the bone on the side that was longer. She had an ace bandage on her knee for about a week, and then scaled back her dance classes for a few weeks - now she's right back to where she was, no worse for the wear. The idea is that the "injured" tibia (the one she just had surgery on) will heal itself, and meanwhile the shorter tibia will continue to grow, and hopefully they'll end up exactly the same length.

Obviously the orthopedic surgeon could best answer this, but my question would be, what if your son ends up 6'2"? Would he have to have the surgery again, or would both tibias end up growing at the same speed after the surgery?

Other than that, I will say that my youngest is going to be short (she's always been in the 25% or lower on the growth charts), and my husband and I are both tall. It happens sometimes!

I would get a second opinion. I had one leg shorter than the other and my hips were out of alignment and so was my back. I had a few pairs of shoes adjusted, which helped a bit, but I ended up getting back surgery. The surgery was because my back was broken, not because one leg needed to catch up to the other. That is a scary diagnosis to me.

Is one bone actually shorter than the other?

Since I am not sure of the nature of your question, I will respond to this too. Sixteen is an average age for boys to stop growing. They do grow approximately 4 inches/year, during the growth spurt, according to what I have read. I don't believe it is 100% fact. I think there is a great possibility he grows beyond 16 years, however, you say he has small hands and feet.

My daughter has always had huge feet. She is 7 years old and wears a size 5. She towers over all of the boys, however, they will catch up with her because I have read that boys grow 4 inches per year, while girls grow 3 inches per year during their growth spurts.

So from what I have read, my daughter could be anywhere from 5'7" - 6'. One method said to double their height at the age of 2, that would make her between 6' - 6'1". One doctor told me to double her height at the age of 3...well that will make her a giant. I read another method that said to double dads height - 3" add it to moms height doubled, then divide by 2 and that will be the height of your girl...or something and that would make her 5'7". When I add the normal 2" per year that she has been growing and throw in the 3" during her growth spurt for 2 years and stop at 14 or 15, she will be about 5'8". So I guess she will be somewhere between 5'7" and 6'.

I don't believe there is a true way to find out, but it sounds like he will be shorter than you thought.