Expert: Blind stretching has many disadvantages
"According to the video tutorial, I practice weight-increasing yoga every day. It's been 3 months, why haven 't I grown yet?" Miss Zhang, who is 153 centimeters tall, questioned whether the popular weight-increasing yoga online is really effective.
Through searching, it was found that there are more than 10 websites on the Internet selling weight-increasing yoga CDs and teaching materials, and advertising them in prominent places, such as "No weight-increasing medicine or weight-increasing device can make adults taller by 1 cm, but if you still desire to increase weight and are unwilling to undergo bone fracture surgery, then only weight-increasing yoga can help you increase your weight by 3-6 cm."
On other video sites, video tutorials on increasing yoga have garnered thousands of clicks. In the video, the coach assumes the "shooter pose","swan pose", etc. The video description states that the human spine has a total of 33 bones. If the gap between the two vertebrae is stretched by 1 mm, then the 33 vertebrae can make the human body taller by about 3.3 centimeters.
In this regard, Xiao Shaoxiong, director of the Department of Orthopedics at Wuhan City First Hospital, said that adults 'epiphyses have closed and it is impossible to grow taller. Height increasing yoga increases height by stretching and widening bone gaps, which cannot last long. He further explained that when you wake up in the morning, the gap between the human body's bones stretches due to rest; before going to bed at night, the gap between the spine is compressed due to heavy loads during the day, so most people are 1-2 centimeters higher in the morning than at night, but this height difference cannot reflect the height of a person.
Ye Zhewei, associate professor of orthopedics at Union Medical College Hospital, also believes that even if external traction is used to widen the bone gap, height will quickly rebound to its original height and cannot be increased.
Is it useful to practice height increasing yoga for developing children? Huang Heng, director of pediatrics at Pu 'ai Hospital in Wuhan City, reminded that minors should not practice weight-increasing yoga because the gap between bones and joints in minors is already wider than that of adults, and blind stretching is not good.
Experts pointed out that height is related to many factors such as genetics, nutrition, exercise, environment, and endocrine. People with short stature should establish a good attitude, balance nutrition, strengthen exercise, and not blindly pursue height gain. (Internship Editor: Wu Jinyu)