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Growth stunt

06/22/2001

Question:

Hi, I am 15 years old and started getting into weight lifting about 3 years ago. Recently I learned that because I am lifting weight I might have damaged my growth plate. I workout 3 times a week and for example will bench press 30 LBS. Is this too much? I wan to work out but I don`t know how much is too much before I damage my growth plate and stunt my growth. I`m 15, 150 LBS, I also would like to know what stunting growth means. If I stunted my growth in the 3 years I have been working out will I not reach my potential height or if I stop working out will I get to the height I was going to get to. Please don`t publish this question on your site. Thanks

Answer:

Hopefully this will be of some help. First, who told you that you stunted your growth? Which growth plates were affected? With the amount of weight you are talking about, I seriously doubt that you could have injured your growth plates. As a matter of fact, numerous studies have shown that weight lifting in your age group, when done correctly, does not put you at risk for damage to your bones or growth plates. I am not aware of any studies that have shown a risk of injury to the growth plate with weight lifting.

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Go to the Sports Medicine health topic.