Question
Hi, I'm age 14 and about 5'9. Although im taller than most
kids my age i beileve its because i started growing before
much of them and now many are catching up to my height. Im
really into sports espicially basketball and I want to be
around 6'2 but im afraid because of my genetics i might not
be. My dad is around 5'11 same with my older brother (17)
and my mom is about 5'6. None of my parents sides are
considered taller than average but i want to be 6'2 really
bad. Is there i can do at this age in terms of exercise or
diet or supplements that will help me become taller than my
genetic potential? Or is it all genetics?  

Answer
Dear Dave,

Thank you for your question.  Yours is a question very much like one I had received years ago from another individual who was investigating chiropractic as a means to grow taller.  In order to answer you properly, I抣l first need to give you some background on the chiropractic profession.

There are two branches or schools of thought in chiropractic.  Briefly, they are differentiated by whether they deal with the limited therapeutic approach for aches and pains (commonly termed "mixed" chiropractic because it represents a mixture of a chiropractor with a non-chiropractic matter) or a non-therapeutic approach to optimum body performance (termed "straight" chiropractic because there is no mixing of chiropractic with anything else).  My expertise is in non-therapeutic straight chiropractic.

Therapeutic "mixed" chiropractic is the older approach based on a split from the founding principles of chiropractic about a century ago.

Non-therapeutic "straight" chiropractic is the more modern of the two.  It deals with a particular, common situation called a vertebral subluxation.  The spine is made of many bone segments which house and protect the spinal cord and the smaller spinal nerve branches that come off the spinal cord and exit between the bones.  These nerve pathways carry information or messages between the brain and the cells of the body.  These messages are essential for the life of the cells.  Without vital brain messages, the cells immediately begin the process of dying; i.e., they can no longer function the way they should to maintain life.

Because the bones are moveable, they can misalign in such a way as to interfere with the messages and, ultimately, the ability of the person to function at their best or express their optimum potential.  People with vertebral subluxations are not able to get all they can out of life.

Vertebral subluxations can be caused by a wide variety of factors, what we'll generally call stresses.  These stresses can be physical (such as accidental trauma, sleeping posture and mattress condition, the birth process, sneezing, falling down, etc.), mental / emotional (in its many forms, probably the most familiar use of the word stress), or chemical (such as pollution, drugs, etc.), which are, unfortunately, regular parts of daily living for all age groups.  In short, a vertebral subluxation can occur for a multitude of reasons.

Tragically, vertebral subluxations are rarely obvious to the individual they affect.  They usually have no symptoms.  The reason is that most of what goes on inside you happens without your awareness.  As an example, try to "feel" your liver.  What's it doing right now?  You can't know, so you can't know if it's functioning at its best or something less.  To complicate things, nerve pathways that carry messages of control (termed "motor" nerves) have no way of transmitting ache or pain messages, so your body function may be far from perfect and you'd not have any alerting signal whatsoever.  The branching of the nerve pathways is complex and extensive, making it exceedingly difficult to predict or determine exactly how the person will be affected.  In order to know if someone has a vertebral subluxation, it is necessary to have that person抯 spine checked by a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor using a method of "analysis."  When a vertebral subluxation is detected this way, it is obviously important to correct it as soon as possible.

Since vertebral subluxations are caused by so many different things, people choose to go to a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor on a regular basis to enjoy the most time free of the life-robbing effects of vertebral subluxation. There's a saying that straight chiropractic is not about your back, it's not about your pain, it's about your life.  Each person has a unique potential in life.  With vertebral subluxation, it's impossible to realize that potential.

A key question to ask for your purposes, then, would be, Is someone wishing to achieve their optimum genetic potential better off with vertebral subluxation / nerve interference or free of subluxation / with the nerve channels open?  It is easy to see that having all the available nerve messages getting through is better than only some of them getting through, regardless of the person's situation otherwise.

As I mentioned earlier, not all chiropractors adhere to this and it is important that you be able to distinguish which ones do if you're going to seek this type of service.  Please understand very clearly that the practice objectives of therapeutic mixed chiropractic and non-therapeutic straight chiropractic are quite different, as described above.  What I can tell you must not be interpreted from the mixed viewpoint.  

At any given moment, there is an optimum state for us to carry out life to our best abilities.  That optimum state will vary depending upon the circumstances, both within us and of our environment.  Of course, there are more variables that influence this - yes, including genetics, but other things, too, such as whether you are properly nourished or starved, whether you experience physicl stress / damage or not, etc. - than one could reasonably and validly control.  It's not any one thing that will be responsible alone for how tall you grow.  

Regarding our discussion above about chiropractic objectives, it may very well be that someone will experience growth after having a vertebral subluxation corrected (or have their individual optimal growth hampered by vertebral subluxation).  The fact is, though, that it cannot be known when this will happen for the same reasons discussed above regarding any type of symptom or therapeutic outcome.  It is not part of the non-therapeutic straight chiropractic objective to add inches in height to a person.

With that said, it would certainly be wise to have your spine checked for subluxations by a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor, even if you still elect to have therapeutic attention for growth concerns.  Remember, the two objectives are not the same.  If you are interested in finding out how to locate a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor in your area, please contact me at this site again or at [email protected].  

Dave, I wish you the best in your growth goals and in having a better understanding of chiropractic.  It has been my pleasure to provide you with some information.

Sincerely,
James W. Healey, D.C.