The best age for children to check their bone age

When a child's body is developing rapidly, the bone density value directly affects his height. Generally speaking, children with high bone density are tall, and children with low bone density are short. Bone density testing is very particular about timing. Not all tests can truly reflect the situation. It is only accurate when tested at the best time. So, when is the best age for children to have their bone age checked?

The best age for children to measure bone age - it is necessary to measure bone age for children aged 3-15

Perform bone age testing when your child is 3-10 years old. Not only can it achieve early detection and early treatment of growth and development diseases, but most importantly, it can gain more time for treatment and adjustment. At the same time, it can also make targeted adjustments to the dietary nutrition structure and living habits to intervene in and adjust the child's height.

Bone age testing should be done before entering puberty. That is, girls are around 8 years old and boys are around 10 years old. Testing during this period helps children enter puberty at a normal level and rate of development, ensuring that their sexual development and height development can be initiated and accelerated in a normal state.

Have your child's bone age tested during puberty. Normally developing girls usually experience their first menstruation at this age, and boys will have their first nocturnal emission at this age. Performing bone age testing in a timely manner at this age can determine whether the child's development, especially height, is normal. After the above physiological conditions occur, adjust the time and space for the child's height development.

When should you do a bone age test?

Clinically, a child is considered to have dwarfism if his or her height is 5-10 cm shorter than the average height of children of the same age, race, and gender. In fact, people's growth rates are different. Some children grow early and some grow late, but there is an average height in each age group. For example, the normal height of a baby under one year old is about 75 cm; for children aged 1 to 3 years old, the normal height for girls is about 95 cm and for boys is about 100 cm. Children over the age of 6 should grow about 5 or 6 centimeters in height each year.

There is also a horizontal comparison method, which is to compare the child with children of the same age. If the child is among the shortest in kindergarten or class, parents should pay attention to the child's growth problems. To be precise from a medical perspective: among 100 children of the same age, it is very necessary to pay attention to the height of children whose height is in the lowest 3%, that is, children in the 3% percentile.

Experts remind that these children should undergo bone age, endocrine and other examinations in a timely manner. If you do not reach the average height or are relatively short among your peers, it is likely that you have a decrease in growth hormone secretion or thyroid dysfunction. You need to have your endocrine system checked to see if there are any pathological problems.

Nowadays, community hospitals and major hospitals, as long as there is an X-ray examination, can test bone age, all you need to do is take an AP X-ray of the left wrist bones.