16-year-old briefly grows taller after costly body lengthening treatment, but returns to original height, raising doubts. Photo: Freepik.
You would have always wondered if there is any scientific procedure to increase height? Well, a 16-year-old boy in southeastern China briefly grew taller after an expensive body lengthening treatment. However, to his dismay, he returned to his original height within two weeks. This has raised questions about the effectiveness of such procedures. The teenager, surnamed Huang, underwent six months of body lengthening therapy from February to August in Xiamen, Fujian province. The treatment cost the family 16,700 yuan (approximately US$2,350).
Huang’s father revealed that his son’s height increased from 165cm to 166.4cm by August. However, just two weeks after completing the treatment, the boy’s height had shrunk back to 165cm.
“Once every week or two weeks, I took my son for treatment, which involved stretching his legs and using medical equipment to ‘activate’ his knees,” Huang senior said.
He also noted that his son’s height appeared to shrink whenever they missed an appointment, though the institution claimed this was only because the treatment was incomplete.
Huang senior filed a complaint with the institution that provided the therapy. A staff member reportedly told him that his son was “too old to be corrected” and offered a full refund. The father expressed frustration, saying, “They should have told us the truth sooner.”
The institution told The Beijing News that its treatment aims to stimulate children’s knee bones to promote growth. However, the clinic’s name has not been disclosed, and it remains unclear whether it is qualified to perform such treatments on minors.
Medical experts have questioned the scientific basis of forced stretching to increase height. Wu Xueyan, an endocrinologist at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, told SCMP that stretching by force is not a proven method for increasing height.
“It is possible to increase a person’s height by half to one centimetre with stretching,” Wu said. “But a person in the morning is already half to one centimetre taller than in the afternoon due to the spine compressing under their own weight during the day and relaxing at night.”
Online observers have criticized such treatments. One noted, “When it comes to a person’s height, 80 per cent is down to DNA and 20 per cent is on sleep quality.” Another commented, “If the treatment really worked, there would be no short people.” A third remarked, “It is a shame that some people are using the anxiety of parents to trick them out of money.”
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Zubair Amin is a Senior Journalist at NewsX with over seven years of experience in reporting and editorial work. He has written for leading national and international publications, including Foreign Policy Magazine, Al Jazeera, The Economic Times, The Indian Express, The Wire, Article 14, Mongabay, News9, among others. His primary focus is on international affairs, with a strong interest in US politics and policy. He also writes on West Asia, Indian polity, and constitutional issues. Zubair tweets at zubaiyr.amin
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