Do Gains Stunt Growth?

An accurate representation of the people I see at the IM Building

An accurate representation of some of the people I see at the IM Building

One of the terms I discovered many Penn State students, especially freshmen males, use is “gains.” For those unfamiliar with the term “gains,” it pretty much means for an individual to put on muscle and to adopt a physical lifestyle. (There are other variations of the definition, but they are along those lines) Though I always wished to be physically stronger, I fear of developing a stocky build. In addition, the main reason why I had refrain from lifting weights is due to the many people in the past who have told me that weights stunt growth. I decided to investigate. Does the lifting of weights or heavy objects in general stunt my potential to grow? 

As I pondered looking for scientific studies, I came across this article that made made me ponder reasons why I even thought about this topic. The site explains the reasonable idea that “applying high force to the skeleton will cause the growth plates in the long bones to harden faster and thus not grow as much, lowering the final height that a person reaches.” (Jump Science) It sounds so common sense. However, athletic movements such as running and jumping all had greater force output than that of weightlifting. (Jump Science) If we consider running and jumping NOT to be activities that hinder our growth, why should weightlifting? That is almost like saying walking is bad for you but running is good. It doesn’t make sense.

In a meta analysis I found in this article, researchers in Germany studied subjects from the ages 6 to 18 for almost 60 years. In the 60 years, they gathered studies of children and weight training. Furthermore, the meta analysis’ objective was to “assess the effects of resistance training in different age groups and maturity levels.” (Michael Behringer) Virtually, it was what I was looking for! The meta analysis researchers made their conclusions based off controlled trials done before on children through “electronic bibliographic databases, key journals, and reference lists of reviews, book chapters, and articles.” (Michael Behringer) From the databases, they were able to find two studies that tested the resistance training, also known as weightlifting, and its effects on subjects younger than 18 years old. Another thing to note, they excluded cardio and quick twitch muscle testing, which is great, for we are looking to find resistance training. After rooting down 46 studies that was relevant to the topic, the researchers found a 1728 sample size to which they were labelled by their stages in puberty, gender, and activity. Obviously, observational studies were NOT chosen for the sole fact that they do not manipulate variables. Also, it is better to have control trials for this. One of the main “filters” I believe that made this meta-analysis much more credible was the fact that they eliminated a confounding variable: activity. As mentioned earlier, the researchers did not include endurance tests. Though I do not want to be too quick to judge, since they did not include any tests to which supports to null hypothesis, this is not an example of the Texas Sharpshooter problem! Lets carry on with the meta analysis. As stated in my previous paragraph, each study consisted of children and weight training. Though the researchers from the meta analysis did not quite change the putative causal variable, the studies were required to have changes in the amount of weight training. The training programs itself consisted of a typical workout. “Duration, frequency, intensity, volume (sets × repetitions), and type of exercise.” (Michael Behringer)

So what does it mean? Despite the concern that resistance training is bad, the conclusion from the meta analysis was that “a greater number of training sessions per week is associated with higher strength gains after resistance training and that long-term interventions are more beneficial than short ones.” (Michael Behringer) All in all, they are saying that lifting weights is beneficial. Personally, I believe that the scientists made a false positive as to assuming resistance training was helped the growth of the subjects. However, I believe there was no report of texas sharpshooter problem. Not only were these 43 separate cases of individual studies, these were randomized control trials! The randomization limits confounding variables such as genetics and child’s prior knowledge in lifting weights. Because of that, I am quite convinced. You will not stunt your growth. However, the children were supervised. If the children were not supervised, can bad form actually stunt growth? If I had to conduct a study, I would make height the only dependent variable. Considering the studies were not geared towards just height, I would have to conduct a separate experiment.

This article I found made me think why we thought that weightlifting stunt growth in the first place. The author emphasizes that the risk of injury is correlated if the person is using proper form. If the technique is right, less of a chance you will get injured! Injury can definitely cause a stunt in growth. Whether it is online or in the gym, trainers always stress the importance of proper form, but why? Maybe it’s because injury can lead to permanent changes to our body. (in which stunt growth can be labelled as) Also, another thing to consider is a fracture to the growth plate. Though personal anecdotes are not credible, I found many stories online where people shared how they could have been 6 feet, but blamed the bad form.

Growth Plate Fracture / From: http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00040

Growth Plate Fracture // From: http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00040

Take home message: Weightlifting does not stunt your growth. However, there is a possibility that injury from weightlifting is the main culprit. If you are worried about the weights stunting your growth, do not fret. Just be sure to have supervision and proper technique! To everyone at Penn State: lets start making some “gains”.

Works Cited

One thought on “Do Gains Stunt Growth?”

  1. Sang Hyun Cho

    When I was younger, my mother would often steer me away from weights and lifting citing health and height concerns. She too was one of the millions that believe that lifting weights can stunt your growth. However, I learned a lot from your article, one of which is that lifting itself with proper form does not stunt growth. However, you used an observational study for your main source. Of course, an observational study can not establish a cause and effect because of the lack of control. Only experiments can do such. I understand though that an experiment that would purposely stunt someone’s growth is unethical and consequently illegal. So instead I looked further into the biology and bone structure of humans. I would like to know more especially on the long term effects of pressure on the knees and joints in particular. What happens after we reach full height? Can we still walk when we’re old? While lifting may cause pain primarily in the muscles, the bones are often affected too. Furthermore, are there devices that take pressure off the joints during lifting? Some things for food for thought. Great article though, I hope I can read more from you later.

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