I'm 17 and I'm about 160 cm and my weight is 47 kg . I just want to know if I will still grow taller ?
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1$\begingroup$ Two things might help here... The height of your parents (and possibly any older siblings), and your gender. As the answers below show there is sex specificity in timing of growth spurt, and height (and timing of growth spurt) is heritable from parents. Don't give up hope, I grew 30 cm after turning 18! $\endgroup$– rg255Commented Nov 10, 2013 at 9:18
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2$\begingroup$ By the way this question in it's current format is a personal medical question and is more suited to your GP, not suitable for BiologySE. I suggest you rewrite it in a general biological framework, perhaps along the lines of... "How heritable is height, how does the likelihood of significant growth decrease with age, at what age can someone expect to have achieved their maximum height?" $\endgroup$– rg255Commented Nov 14, 2013 at 8:55
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2 Answers
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Simpler answer (although I like Remi.b's):
Probably.
If you want to know for sure go to a doctor and have them look at your Epiphyseal Plates in your long bones (Femur, Tibula, Fibula). If they've fused, you won't grow anymore. If they're still distinct then you'll continue to grow until they fuse.
For males that can happen as late as early-20's. However, depending on genetics, you might not gain that much height.
Here's a graph you might be interested in:
You're at the tail-end of probably your last growth spurt. You have probably 2-3 years' worth of growing left, but don't expect miracles. You've got maybe another 1-2cm.
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$\begingroup$ wow. that is a great find. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 9, 2013 at 18:36
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I guess there are two main solutions:
1) From the science of antropometry you might find some clues of the probability that you have of growing taller. For example, if your body (hairs and stuff) already look like an adult body, then you would probably not grow much more. See @MCM's answer who gives a solution that will be way more useful to you than my answer!
2) Knowing the size of your parents you can infer your expected size. Below are some comments on this question.
Any phenotypic trait has shows some part of variance. This variance is explained by genetic variance, environmental variance and the variance due to the interaction of genetic and environment. In equation it gives:
$$V_P=V_G+V_E+V_{GxE}$$
Dividing the genetic variance by the phenotypic variance gives the heritability
$$H=\frac{V_G}{V_P}$$
Estimations of heritability (in the narrow sense, see this for more info) can also be realized with selection experiments or parent-offspring.
The heritability of height in humans is around 0.6 (Welcome to anyone who can give an accurate value and a good reference) which is quite high. It means that more than half of the variance in height among humans has to be accounted to genetic variance. If your parents are tall, don't lose hope, you have quite a good probability to grow tall.
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1$\begingroup$ I think your answer is perfect but the "asker" seems to be looking for a simpler answer as he does not seem to be from a scientific background. $\endgroup$– biogirlCommented Nov 9, 2013 at 17:47
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$\begingroup$ Wow! Real Good! Is this sentence correct? "Any phenotypic trait has shows some part of variance" $\endgroup$– One FaceCommented Feb 15, 2015 at 17:23
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$\begingroup$ I guess that all phenotypic traits should show some variance in a population (as soon as the population is larger than 1 individual!), just because there is internal noise (proteins degrade a ta given rate for example). However, not all phenotypic traits shows some underlying genetic variance (that is, not all phenotypic traits are heritable). $\endgroup$– Remi.bCommented Feb 15, 2015 at 18:05