Last updated on August 25, 2020
Question:
Hello. I visited your site. I am 14 years and 11 months old. I did your Tanner Stage Calculator quiz and got a 5.2. I can’t believe that, but I am 5’7″ tall, weigh 120 pounds and wear shoes that are size 8.5.
My doctor took an x-ray of my left hand and he told me that I my bone growth was very advanced and that I would probably finish my growth in one year. I only have a very little space between my fingers and my hand and the space for the last bone that calcifies in my internal wrist. But he couldn’t tell me how much that I’d grow because he would need a hormonal test.
Can you please answer me some questions:
- How tall will I be?
- Will my shoe size increase?
- Will my chin widen?
Answer:
The Tanner Stage Calculator can only give estimates because it relies on you to enter the information and that information is only as good as your understanding of the questions and the accuracy of your response. I’ve tried hard to get a good estimate by asking numerous questions in different ways and by weighing the responses based on which set of questions are easiest to answer accurately.
Tanner stages are marked in five units: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. What I chose to do is make it into a scale so that you could see how close the estimate is coming to each stage. Thus, the difference between 5.2 and a 4.9 isn’t that great, but a difference between 2.5 and 4.3 is significant.
People often ask why the scale goes over 5. The answer is simple. Dr. Tanner set 5 as the time growth in height stops, but all development doesn’t stop at the same time. Hair development continues past the time growth stops. So does mental development, but that is hard to measure.
What your doctor stated is that you are near the end of stage 4. You haven’t quite crossed the line to stage 5 yet. In other words, the estimate wasn’t far off. At that point, most of your growth will be in the widening of your shoulders. Your spine might increase just a bit, but not much. I doubt you will see much further increase in height. If any, it will be under a quarter inch.
Your shoe size will likely stay the same as well. Shoe size and height doesn’t go together. I know several people who are 6 foot and greater with a shoe size of 9. I also know several people in the 5 foot 8 inch range with shoe sizes of 11.
There is a good probability that your chin will widen over the next year or two. It is among the last sets of changes men go through.