Can posture correction help you grow taller?

For adults whose epiphyses have been completely closed, posture correction will not make your bones actually longer, but after the adjustment, you can generally look 2-5 centimeters taller. The visual changes are often the same as "growing taller"； If you are a teenager whose epiphysis has not yet closed, timely correction of bad posture may actually help you reach the upper limit of your genetic height. Calculated, it may really be a few centimeters longer.

I met a 28-year-old male programmer two years ago. When he arrived, he was very shrunken, with rounded shoulders, forward head extension, and slight forward pelvic shift. His height was only 171 when measured barefoot. After almost three months of adjustment, he could maintain a neutral position when standing, sitting, and walking every day. The measurement stabilized at 174. He was confused and said that he thought he would never grow again when he became an adult. In fact, they are not long bones. They are just releasing the 3 centimeters that were "folded" away by bad posture.

No wonder everyone is quarreling over this issue. The essence is that the two sides have different definitions of "grow taller". Some people think that only height changes caused by bone growth count. Postural correction for adults cannot achieve this effect. After all, after the epiphyseal line is closed, the long bones will no longer grow longer, and any correction will be useless. But if what you mean by "growing taller" refers to the change in net height after standing up straight, then posture correction can really help you. After all, most people who sit for a long time have some posture problems. The normal physiological curvature of the spine becomes straight or even abnormally curved. The pelvis tilts back and forth. The whole person is like a spring that has been compressed by less than half, and the original height is not fully stretched.

If you have a teenage child at home who has been hunchbacked for a long time or even has mild scoliosis, don’t take it seriously. The vertebral body is still developing at this stage. Long-term abnormal stress will affect the normal growth of the bones, which may really lower the final upper limit of height. Intervene early at this time. Correction helps the spine and pelvis return to their normal positions, and it is not unusual for them to eventually grow two to three centimeters taller than if they had been left alone. There is an example around me of a parent who took his 14-year-old child to adjust for more than half a year, and the final height was 2.8 centimeters higher than the previous bone age prediction.

But don’t boast too much about posture correction. I’ve met many friends who came here with the goal of “grow 5 centimeters more when they become adults”. In the end, they found that they could only adjust their original height of 165 from the 162 when they had breasts and hunched back. I felt cheated. In fact, my expectations were not right. You can try it by yourself when standing in front of the mirror. Put your chin back, open your shoulders back, straighten your pelvis, and put your center of gravity on the midline of your feet. Measure it on the spot. You will most likely be 1-2 centimeters taller than when you stand slouched. If you can maintain this state as a daily habit, even if you don't really grow bones, your whole body will look straight and stretched, which is much more natural than secretly increasing your height by padding, right?