f you want a leg lengthening alternative for 1-2 inches, go to Melbourne, Florida. An orthopedic surgeon there wrote a paper describing how using a muscle relaxer, a spine stretching treatment, and then stabilizing the elongated spine, you can add an inch or two of height. This was in relation to a functional procedure, but the author makes it clear that the height gain can also be achieved for purely cosmetic reasons.
Doctor’s name is Richard Hyne, B.A.C.K. Center, Melbourne FL.
Here’s the paper:
https://patents.google.com/patent/US20090093852Of interest are paragraphs 40- 70; below I highlight key info in paragraphs 43,44 and 61
Other important considerations in the procedure are the state of the patient's spine at the time of the procedure. For example, if the procedure is performed in the morning, as opposed to latter in the day, the patient may end up with a different height, as disc height is greatest in the morning after a night of sleep due to increased fluid intake, and decreases with axial loading throughout the day. As such, in some embodiments at least the disc treatment portions of the procedure may be performed in the morning shortly after awakening to facilitate increased height of disc fill, for example. This aspect is further refined by the addition of pre-procedure muscle relaxation with intravenous or intramuscular injection of approved pharmaceuticals, e.g., robaxin, skelaxin, soma, etc. In other embodiments, use of paralyzing agents with general anesthesia may be used for more rigid or stiff patients. Use of SSEP (Somatosensory evoked potential) monitoring may be employed to protect the patient against over distraction or correction, elongation or shortening of the spine resulting in spinal cord injury or other nerve injury.
To this end, traction, bracing, suspension, inversion tables, therapy, muscle relaxants, chiropractic adjustments, etc. may be used to advantageously place the spine in the desired position prior to the procedure, at Block 112. Moreover, medication such as ligament relaxors (e.g., relaxin) may also be used to achieve natural elongation of the spine before the procedures, and after as well, to achieve the desired axial height increase/stability.
In another example, a 45-year-old man, who is 5 feet 4 and has always desired greater height, asks his doctor if there is any way to “safely” be taller. The patient would enter index determination, pre-procedure stretching, traction medical muscle and/or ligament relaxor treatment, etc. After a desired elongation (e.g., 1-2 inches) through this pre-treatment, an early morning procedure may be performed to stabilize the appropriate anatomic structures, namely disc and facet joints, and interspinous ligaments (but not vertebral bodies) to maintain this increased height gain. If at some later point in his life it is determined that he is at risk for fractures, then the vertebral bodies could be subsequently stabilized.
The author states in easily comprehensible terms that a 45 year old man can use a muscle relaxer to increase his height by 1-2 inches. It would of course have to be in conjunction with stretching, traction, and the actual surgical treatment, but afterwards, you would end up maybe 1.5 inches taller after maybe 3 days of hospital stay. Much, much faster than any type of limb lengthening surgery today.
To those who believe this would only work on old people who’s spines have shrunk with age, and is just undoing that process, look up at what age Men start to shrink and the rate of shrinkage.
For the lazy:
Age Men start to shrink: anywhere between age of 35-50
Rate of shrinkage: no more than an inch every 10 years
If the man in the example within the paper were to have started shrinking at the earliest age (unlikely, as the paper says he’s always wanted to be taller, **not that he recently shrunk**), this means he would have lost **at most 1 inch of height** as he’s 45. And the paper clearly states he would increase his height anywhere between 1-2 inches!
To put it more simply for the mathematically challenged:
At age 45 it’s highly unlikely for you to have lost height from a shrunken spine significantly—no more than 1 inch at most. And yet the paper says the 45 year old can gain 1-2 inches of height, so at the very least, 1 inch of height should be attainable pre-spinal-shrinkage, as in, at any age (obviously you should wait until you’re done growing though).
And for those wondering: Since this is solely focused on the spine/torso, it can presumably be done *in addition* to leg lengthening. So if you were planning on adding 3 inches with leg lengthening, you can very likely add 4-5 inches total to your height, if you were to undergo this procedure as well. This procedure would also help out those worried about proportions after leg lengthening, as it would lengthen your torso 1-2 inches.
I haven’t gone because I don’t have that as a priority (would need to fix my scoliosis first, presumably) but by all means, if you are wanting to grow an inch or two... go to Florida, ASAP because this doctor looks old and who knows when he’ll retire.