What is a bone age? Bone age is degree of growth and maturation of children’s bone. Some Specialist like Pediatrician will face some problem of their patient if they are still child.

If you are a mother or parent that have a normal growth child is OK, but if they grow abnormal will ask for help for this matter.

The skeleton system will grow normally since baby up to adult. The steps from childhood, puberty up to adult need about 20 age of process. Chiropractic or Orthopedist can predict their growth from their bone. It’s still normal or not.

X-ray examination is one of the best tests to predict or analyze for the bone age. Specialist needs the left hand x-ray to analyze their bone’s maturity. Radiologist or Pediatric Endocrinologist will give interpretation about that photo.

Metaphyses and epiphysis that attached with long bone like tibia, fibula, femur, radius, ulna, hand and feet will be compared with the bone’s guideline. Those bones are actually the primary growing bones to predict an adult height.

There is still another prediction for bone age like spine including neck (cervical spine), thoracal and lumbar spine and also for head. For children, there are many epiphysis that spread on their foot and hand areas and like fracture or abnormality but actually that is a growing bone or mentioned as cartilage.

The evaluation result will be concluded for children, they are normal, advanced or delayed growth base on the bone age x-ray. Advanced growth happen if their bone has prolonged elevation due to the excess of sex steroid level or we call it “Gigantism” or overgrowth syndrome.

Delayed growth has many variations compared with normal development. Many causes happen because of growth hormone deficiency or we mentioned as Hypothyroidism. History factor of their parent is also important thing to be considered.

For parent that have children who have abnormality growth to be checked with the Specialist to control their bone maturity. Because if they suffer the delayed or advanced growth that will have an impact for their health.

Bone age x-ray is part of bone x-ray purposes but it has specific goal.

IMAGE BY TEUNVDK

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