Can you have multiple growth spurts?

Last updated on October 3, 2020

Question:

Can you have more than one growth spurt? I just turned 16 and I noticed my hands were getting way bigger. I noticed it while I was at basketball practice. I had to adjust my whole shooting form. Also, I grew two shoe sizes and I am already over 6 feet. Is this normal?

Answer:

It is not uncommon for people to have pauses in their growth which then continues. What generally happens is that there isn’t enough energy to make everything grow at once, so while internal changes are being made to organs, things more externally noticeable, such as the growth of the bones slow down. It is spoken of like a smooth, continuous growth, but it isn’t. For some people, these starts and stops are more noticeable than in other people.