Did you know that there are 300 bones in your body when you are born? Did you also know that there are only 206 bones by the time we reach adulthood? Why does this happen? Mainly because our bones are basically cartilage when we're babies which is why baby's bones are so much more susceptible to break with light impact. As we get older our bones go through what is called 'ossification' where the cartilage turns solid. Eventually the smaller bones will combine and develop into fewer larger bones thereby reducing the total number of bones in our body.

Growth plates are located at the ends of some of the long bones in our body. When some of the cartilage doesn't harden all at the same time, these plates continue to make new tissue while the old tissue turns into bone - therefore increasing your growth. These plates will harden as well once you stop growing (usually at adulthood) ? and you will now be at your final height. If something damaging happens to these growth plates while you are still young, your growth could be stunted and could cause some bones to be more mature than others, and some longer than others.

You can actually estimate the potential height of a child by watching their growth pattern. A female will usually have a full height of three times her height at the age of three years. A male will usually have a full height of three times his height at the age of three years and three months.

You can use growth charts to track your height development history but this is only one of the many ways to make sure that you had a healthy, growing, and properly developing process when you were a child.

There are various reasons why charts will never be correct because of the many points that play a role in your growth. These are explained in the 'grow taller' program at www.howdoigrowtaller.com