Do You Get Taller by Playing Basketball?
Recent findings show that there is a correlation between human height development and basketball. This is hardly believed and most people would stick to believing that genetics is the sole determinant of how tall you’ll be. However, there’s evidence suggesting that the movements involved in playing the game of basketball may help boost height growth during your growing years.
In fact, according to scientists, the body current flow to your brain increases with jumping while playing basketball. This stimulates the production of growth hormone [1] within your body, thereby making you grow taller. If your growth hormone is high it has the ability to boost rapid height gain. High levels of growth hormone in both males and females have the ability to boost rapid height gain. With increased growth hormone levels, basketball players can grow taller fast during their developmental years and eventually reach or even surpass their genetically predetermined height.
The sport involves a lot of running, jumping, shooting and dribbling, in which running stimulates the release of growth hormone, jumping triggers blood flow to the growth plates to amplify their functions, shooting and dribbling promote height by stretching your arms and spine. Basically all the movement involved when playing basketball contribute to height growth one way or another.
This could explain why many NBA [2] stars have significant growth spurts in high school. Some of them even grew taller by 8 inches in one summer by playing basketball. You probably thinking, what about volleyball players? Since the sport also involves a lot if jumping. The average height of male volleyball players is 6 feet 6.5 inches. So, it’s likely that volleyball has the same height-increasing benefit, too.