Periods of rapid growth in children. What is growth jump

Diseases in the period of rapid growth of adolescents

Symptoms of pain:

•   Pain in the legs;
• Muscle pain;
• Fast fatiguability;
• Chronic fatigue;
• Dizziness;
• Headache varying degrees of pain.

How does the load on the joints

During this period, a surge of hormonal levels in the humoral (fluid) system of a person is planned. This means that the number of growth factors will trigger the rapid growth of tissues and especially bones.

The problem will be that the force of muscle thrust (muscle strength) will not correspond to the “grown” length of the levers in the form of an increase in the length of the foot and leg as a whole. Bone growth on the right and left support chain; the foot-leg will not be the same, and this asymmetry due to the difference in length of the levers will be expressed in the curvature of the pelvis, sacrum and spine as a result.

The period of adolescence

What consequences

Given the fact that the sum of the angles of the heels and lower legs along the right and left support (legs) of a person is always different, then for a teenager this difference will only increase due to the weak muscular traction we mentioned above. Such a pathological biomechanical effect may accompany a teenager until the post-puberty period with its chronic continuation. In the end, this will affect the displacement of the pelvis, the "wiring" of his bones with the displacement of the vertebrae in three planes.

Finding the center of gravity of the brain in such an asymmetric state of the bones will ultimately lead to scoliotic posture or, most terrible, to structural scoliosis. And this, in turn, to neuralgia, neuropathy, persistent muscle strain with provocation of brain ischemia (compression of the spinal arteries). In adolescents, this will be expressed in fatigue, chronic fatigue, and possibly lead to headaches. Because of this, study can suffer!

Spine scoliosis solving problems

The solution of the above problems can be solved only by giving the body a different center of gravity (but not at all through the pharmacology). And this is only possible through the manufacture of the most individual insoles. As world experience has shown, without special measuring equipment and without highly professional hands, it is impossible to make extra-efficient insoles!

Such insoles reinforce and align the muscular traction from the foot to the ears, which means that the bones of the entire skeleton will stand up and will stay in their proper places. An exception can only be structural scoliosis. That is why the responsibility lies with children's orthopedists working in the community. According to some criteria, they should determine a predisposition for structural scoliosis in a teenager and motivate parents to make such insoles, which we discussed above.

Growth spike is the period of the most active growth. Its beginning in boys and girls is different, but the duration is about the same - about two years.

Active growth

Typically, girls begin to grow actively at the age of 9-10. At the same time, the peak growth rate falls on 11-12 years, which coincides with intensive sexual development. In boys, active growth begins somewhat later (about 11 years) and reaches its maximum by the age of 13. That is why in high school girls first above boys, and then it changes.

During the growth period, the guys normally grow by 9-10 cm per year, and the girls - by 7-8 cm per year. This explains the fact that men are usually 10-12 cm taller than women. Growth rate by the end of sexual development slows down. This is due to the fact that the growth of cartilage, which is located at the ends of long tubular bones, practically stops.

Growth factors

Growth is influenced by many internal and external factors:

• heredity - not only the growth of parents, but also the peculiarities of the formation of their body in childhood and adolescence;
• age of onset of sexual development (puberty);
• the nature of the food;
• the presence of any chronic diseases;
• physical activity;
• use of certain drugs.

How to get taller

A healthy, nutritious diet, regular exercise and good, adequate sleep help you achieve the best possible growth. Most children do not need to take any additional nutritional supplements, since all the essential nutrients are ingested with food.

It should beware of any products that promise to make a person taller. In some pharmacies, you can find pills with “Growth Stimulator” or “Growth Hormone” on the labels, but growth hormone is a medicine that cannot be taken without a doctor's prescription.

Sometimes a doctor may prescribe such a drug, but only under strict medical conditions, for example, when proven severe deficiency of growth hormone. Growth hormone has certain side effects: it can cause diabetes and fluid accumulation in the brain (hydrocephalus).

If the child is higher or lower than relatives and peers

If the growth of the child is very different from the growth of the parents or siblings, you should consult a doctor.

A pediatrician must, from an early age, track the growth of a child and mark it on a special schedule.

In some cases, to determine the cause of dysplasia, careful examination by an endocrinologist is necessary. A special study of bone age will show whether the child can grow again.

Is it possible to predict growth

The best way to predict growth is to draw up and carefully study a so-called growth chart or chart. The pediatrician notes on the chart the age and height of the child at a given point in time and tracks his change. Since doctors are well aware of how boys and girls should grow, it will not be difficult for them to evaluate these parameters.

Future growth can also be calculated mathematically. But for this you need to know the growth of both parents, because the basic parameters of the body are 90% dependent on genes. There are several formulas that allow you to roughly estimate the growth of an adult. For example:

• Girls' height = (mother's height + father's height - 17) / 2
• Boys height = (mother's height + father's height + 17) / 2

You can use a special one that allows you to calculate the growth of a child online.

It is interesting to all of us what our child will be when he grows up - will he be fat or thin, tall or short? Basically, the complexion of the child is inherited in the genes from the father and mother, it will be a cross between them. But what and how exactly will influence, and how, at least approximately, it will grow.

So what is growth?
  The growth of a child is a natural process of increasing body length and width, as he will gain weight. The most correct growth and development processes will be when the child grows up in the most favorable conditions for him - he eats enough and sleeps, walks a lot, is properly looked after, his environment is healthy.

Growth will be influenced by a variety of conditions - the influence of genes, hormonal effects, stress, education in the family and the influence of the environment in which it will be. In the process of growth, various kinds of unpleasant and even painful manifestations can occur, diseases associated with growth and impairments in growth or increase can occur. How can parents understand that you need to worry and when you should not raise panic? How to help children survive growth jumps, how to help with growth pains and when to contact an orthopedist or another doctor? Let's analyze with you all the growth patterns, gains and problems that may arise in the process of growth of your toddler.

How does your baby grow?
  Many parents ask me at receptions, how tall will our baby be, how to find out and calculate this? In addition, parents are interested in how to properly grow a child, what you will need to pay attention to during periods of particularly active growth of the body. Of course, in matters of growth there are certain patterns that will reflect the correct process of skeletal growth at a certain age. A child must double its height at birth by the age of four years, by the age of 12-13 years to triple. That is, on the example of my son - at birth he was 56 cm, at four he should be at least 112 cm, and at 12 years old - 168 cm.

The most active child will grow in his first year of life, on average, they grow by half, that is, 20-25 cm, with an average height of 50-55 cm, they reach 75-80 cm in length. Although there may be variations in height from 15 to 25 cm, and this depends on the characteristics of development, health, and many factors - often ill children with rickets and anemia grow more slowly. Children usually grow in proportion to their weight. In the second year, the kids are pulled out by an average of 12-15 cm, in the third year, the children grow more slowly - adding from 8 to 10 cm in length. And then the growth of children becomes more stable, slow and even.

Now it is necessary to dwell separately on the phenomena when a child literally grows several centimeters in length over the summer, growing out of all things. This phenomenon has in our scientific environment the name of "growth shocks" or periods of skeletal traction. In boys, it usually begins at the age of five, at girls at six — this is the first jump, and it lasts about six months. Then the growth slows down again for several years and the second growth spurt begins at the age of 10 in boys, and at nine years in girls. Again in six months they grow up fast and hard, and then growth slows down again.

The third period of traction and rapid growth begins in adolescence - usually in boys this is the period from 12-13 to 15 years old, in girls from 12 to 14 years old, and growth in young people ends on average by 17-18 years old, but girls grow up to an average of 19-20 years.

The total approximate height of the child can be calculated as follows:

Boys - mom's height in cm + dad's height in cm divided by two and add 6-7 cm to this result.

Girls - mom's height in cm + dad's height in cm divided by two and subtracted from the result of 6-7 cm.

But this is a fairly average formula, various factors influence the growth of children.

But why am I talking about this in such detail?
  With growth jumps, when the child is most actively growing, various kinds of problems are possible in the child’s well-being and skeletal pathologies can develop. These violations in the skeleton must always be remembered. In order for a child to realize a pledged growth program, he needs to launch special processes in the body - the neuro-hormonal regulation and the programs incorporated in the genes. However, whatever the right programs of the nervous and endocrine systems, without additional and regular entry into the body of building material in the form of proteins, carbohydrates and fats, as well as a sufficient amount of vitamins and minerals, the baby cannot grow normally. Moreover, this is true both for the insufficiency of these substances, but also for their excessive intake into the body.

Growth is commanded by the brain, or rather a special part of the brain - the hypothalamus with the pituitary gland; they set hormonal programs of growth and development from birth to the death of the organism. A special part of the brain - the hypothalamus, allocates a group of releasing hormones, regulatory factors. They can perform the functions of regulators, growth stabilizers - they are called somatostatins, and another group - somatoliberins - growth promoters. These hormones in the hypothalamus are allocated in strictly defined concentrations and help growth or inhibit it, depending on the concentration.

Growth is realized by a fully programmed process through the action of the endocrine system, the hypothalamus signals the pituitary gland to produce GH (somatotropic hormone). His particular concentrations affect the growth of the baby in childhood. In addition, under the influence of this hormone, all the cells of the body divide, their renewal takes place and the body grows in length and width. In addition, hormones of the thyroid gland, pancreas, adrenal hormones, sex hormones and damage to various organs of the endocrine system may be affected by growth with gigantism or dwarfism — they will be discussed later.

With constant stress, adrenaline released from the adrenal glands begins to inhibit the release of growth hormone and retard growth - that is why children from disadvantaged families are usually lower and more puny than their prosperous peers.

How can health change?
  During periods of active growth of the body of the child, especially in the period of growth traction, there may be some difficulties in health, which must be corrected in the very early stages of development. With intensive growth, the child's body begins to actively consume such minerals that are vital to the baby’s body, such as calcium for strength, phosphorus for bonding bones, and magnesium for elasticity; without it, bones will be fragile.

If in the period of active growth the nutrition of the child is not fully balanced, the products will not contain enough of these minerals, then there will be a shortage of mineral components of the skeleton. This is expressed in the pain of the spine and long bones, the pathological fragility of the bones of the skeleton and possibly even the deformity of the spinal column and the bones of the arms and legs. The problem is solved in a rather simple and fast way; it is necessary that the child’s nutrition be sufficient and correct with a sufficient amount of calcium, magnesium and phosphorus. This gives milk and dairy products. If milk or sour milk cannot be given to the child, then nutrition is enriched with calcium in the form of vitamin and mineral supplements, they are usually recommended by a pediatrician or orthopedist.

The second and very relevant and widespread problem in the health of the child in the period of his active growth is the development of anemia, most often there is iron deficiency anemia, although there may be B-12, folic and vitamin-deficient anemia. They may occur due to increased costs of body iron or other substances necessary for the body. These substances are necessary to ensure that muscle tissue is actively built, blood is renewed, and oxygen is delivered to the actively dividing cells of the body. Often iron comes with food a little, and it is additionally lost with the body's natural excretions. In addition, iron deficiency anemia and its other types are possible with the loss of iron with intestinal diseases, with frequent bleeding from the nose, gums, with frequent colds and exacerbation of chronic diseases.

During periods of intensive growth, which we have already voiced above, control for peripheral blood should be carried out at least once every six months and with a decrease in hemoglobin below the 110 g / l border, it will be necessary to prescribe a course of iron-containing drugs along with a proper diet of at least three six months. Or, in children from the risk group, iron preparations are prescribed as part of a multivitamin mineral supplement in order to prevent anemia preventively.

This is not all growth problems and parents often worry about recurring painful attacks in the body or arms and legs - the so-called growth pains. We will talk about them in detail in the second part of the article, analyze the problems of growth and pathology associated with it.

Both adolescents and children of preschool age. Pediatrician Alyona Paretskaya will answer in detail the questions, which processes lead to the occurrence of unpleasant symptoms and how to ease the difficult period in the child's life.

How active growth can hurt

The most actively growing fetus in the womb, as well as the baby of the first year of life. This rate of growth and weight gain in a person will never be noted in his later life. During certain periods, skeletal growth will accelerate - in early childhood and adolescence. Children in these periods, called growth jumps, can grow up to a few months by 4 cm or more.

However, in view of this rate of extension of the skeleton, various kinds of problems can arise in the form of body disproportionality, as well as an imbalance between the growth of bones and soft tissues, vessels, which leads to subjectively unpleasant symptoms. Often growth jumps are accompanied by fluctuations in blood pressure and complaints of children about the violation of health, pain in the area of ​​bones and muscles.

Children are born about 45–55 cm tall. For the first year, a child grows about a third the height at birth, which is about 20–25 cm. The average growth rate for the year will be about 73–75 cm. By the second year of life, the baby’s growth dynamics are somewhat decreases and is up to 15 cm growth increment. In the third year, children add another 10 cm. From the age of three, the growth increases become relatively stable: on average, about 4-5 cm are added to the growth of a baby per year.

However, in some periods of life, the growth of children accelerates, which is called a growth spurt - when the increase over several months exceeds the total value of the increase over the whole year. At this time, for several months, the baby dramatically drags on what parents notice - the child quickly grows out of the usual clothes and shoes.

Causes of growth spikes

Growth spikes belong to regular periods in the development of a child; at this time, growth activates as a result of an increase in the amount of growth hormone (somatotropic hormone) in plasma. In order for the baby to grow actively, somatotropic hormone acts on bone and soft tissues, leading to accelerated cell division and renewal. On average, growth jumps develop in the period of 4-5 years, in some children - at the age of 7 years. At this time, the baby is actively drawn in growth in just a couple of months.

Another jump in growth occurs at the initial stage of puberty, when hormonal changes are formed. During this period, the child can grow up very quickly, which is noticeable in terms of growth and children's things, which quickly become small. For the year they can add up to 10 cm in height and more. In addition, the sexual characteristics of children also have an impact: the patterns of growth of girls will be different from boys.

For girls, the body is characterized by an earlier entry into puberty than a boy's body - the difference can be in a couple of years. At the same time, girls sharply begin to overtake boys in height; however, the jump in them quickly stops. At this point, the growth of boys begins to accelerate, which helps them quickly catch up and overtake girls in growth.

Visually, this is noticeable in the school classroom. At first, at the age of 10-12 years old girls can be taller than boys due to active growth. But, the situation is changing literally before our eyes, when at the age of 12-14 years after the summer holidays, boys in the class noticeably grow up against the background of the not so high (against them) girls.

Growth problems

It is during periods of growth jumps that younger or older children can complain about disturbances in their well-being, to notice ailments that are directly related to rapid growth processes. When referring to a doctor, experts explain these conditions with active growth changes occurring inside the body. But what is the reason for the ill health of a seemingly quite healthy child? It's simple.

The growth of the skeleton must also be accompanied by the growth of soft tissues and internal organs after the skeleton, in order to fully meet the growing needs of the growing body. If the growth of the skeleton occurs very rapidly and rapidly, then the development of muscle tissue and skin may simply not keep pace with the rate of bone growth. This will cause temporary discomfort and mild ailments. This will be especially noticeable in painful, weak and physically poorly trained children.

What can be attributed to the "side effects" of active growth? Usually, children complain of discomfort and even pressing, pulling pain in the muscles of the limbs, "pain" in the joints. Typically, these feelings are not strong, quickly passing and are localized in different places. In addition, with active growth, there may be a decrease in blood pressure (hypotension), unpleasant sensations in the region of the heart, as well as functional noise during auscultation. There may be complaints of weakness, malaise, headaches. It is important that parents do not ignore the child’s complaints, but also do not make the tragedy of their appearance.

It is also worth noting that during periods of active growth, somatic pathology may also be the first to manifest itself as a result of increased stress, especially if it is a weakened, untrained and not hardened child.

About half of the children during periods of active growth complain of unpleasant, painful sensations in the legs. Growth pains are not recognized by all doctors, they are not set as a diagnosis. It is important to distinguish these sensations from the manifestations of various diseases associated with the skeleton and soft tissues. Growth pains are usually limited to the knee and shin, with no injuries and organic skeletal pathologies. For pain growth there are certain characteristics:

• Growing pains occur in the evening and at night, practically not appearing in the morning and in the afternoon;
• Even if the legs hurt in the evening, after sleep, children feel well in the morning;
• The pains are localized in the legs, in the area of ​​the knees, more often occur after active motor loads;
• There is no redness, swelling, skin changes in the area of ​​pain, body temperature does not rise.

It is important to remember that if the pain is localized in the same place, they occur in the morning and do not pass throughout the day and there are other unpleasant symptoms - this condition does not apply to growth pains and requires a visit to the doctor for a full examination.

How to help the child

It is important to calm the child and explain to him that such sensations occur because his legs grow, they are tired after an active day and therefore pain occurs. Gentle and light strokes, massaging the legs with rubbing, kneading and patting the skin will help, and tingling and sawing movements are permissible. he will tell you himself which movements and techniques are most pleasant for him and help him best.

Relief pains warm foot baths, raising the legs up to improve venous blood flow. In case of severe pain, compresses and mustard plaster, rubbing with peach oil can help. For pains that prevent the child from resting, you can use paracetamol or ibuprofen (Nurofen) in half the age dose. If simple methods do not help to eliminate pain, they occur frequently and lead to a violation of the condition, it is necessary to consult a doctor.

At puberty, the boys begin to grow "on the lees." This is facilitated by hormonal changes, restructuring of the metabolism and physiological changes of the skeleton, adapting to the adult type of load and the male body proportions. Not all children grow smoothly, there may be some difficulties that you need to be aware of.

What is a growth leap?

During life, boys grow unevenly - periods of rapid growth are replaced by relatively slow, this is due to the age and characteristics of the organism. During puberty (puberty) there is a growth spurt, which in general determines the growth of a young man already in adulthood. Approximately it will be the height of the mother folded with the growth of the father, divided in two, to this figure you need to add about 8-10 cm, and such a son will grow.

On average, during puberty, guys are pulled out by 20-30 cm, or even more. It all depends on many external and internal conditions. Trained young men who are actively involved in sports will be above their slender peers. In addition, features of the constitution strongly influence growth. Stocky with a wide skeleton of young men are usually lower than their asthenic and fine-boned peers. But they are stronger in terms of muscle and endurance.

What does a boy's height depend on?

During puberty, growth is controlled not only by growth hormone, but also by sex hormones: the greater the testosterone level of the guy, the lower his growth will be and the sooner he will stop growing. Testosterone affects the growth zones of bones and closes them. Therefore, the earlier and the more active maturation occurs, the sooner the boy will grow up and acquire his typically adult features.

Growth depends on nutrition, if the body does not have enough building material for bones and muscles, it will slow down and the young man will be short and thin enough. During the period of intensive growth, the boy needs proteins, and not vegetable, and animals - meat and fish. In addition, he needs calcium for the strength of the skeleton - and this is milk and dairy products. But metabolism and metabolism will be inferior without complex of vitamins and minerals. Which give vegetables and fruits. Children derive energy for strength and growth from carbohydrates. Therefore, watch what your teenage sons eat. Fast foods and soda is not the best way reflected in their appearance and shape.

Health problems of a teenage boy

During the period of active growth may occur limb pains, especially frequent with active physical activity and sports activities. This is due to the fact that the periosteum, covering the bones outside, does not always keep up with the active growth of the bone in length and calls out pain. In addition, the pain can give the muscles and ligaments, still not strong enough for such a skeleton. They just do not have time to grow. This condition is not life-threatening, but subjectively unpleasant, it can disrupt the boy’s sleep and habitual activities. Warm foot baths, light massage of aching limbs and ibuprofen or paracetamol in case of intense pain will help.

Another problem of rapid growth can be iron-deficiency anemia. It occurs when a violation of the supply of iron or its assimilation of the intestines during the period of its active expenditure on the construction of muscles. It is necessary to consume iron from food (meat, liver, offal), and if necessary, to take iron supplements for the purpose of prevention and treatment.

Another complaint, especially among tall and thin young men, may be pain in the region of the heart and pressure fluctuations. This is due to the sharp growth of the body in length and the "sagging" of the heart on the vessels, which is why unpleasant sensations are formed. This will help strengthen the diet with weight gain and moderate exercise to form the muscular system of the body and increase blood pressure due to stress.