Does Gymnastics Stunt Your Growth?
Many people wonder whether gymnastics will stunt their growth or if it is just a myth. For those gymnasts who develop eating disorders for one reason or another, are very prone to stunting their growth because of the lack of nutrition and the delay of the menstral cycle. Gymnastics also stunts your growth for reasons such as training too much and too hard and not eating enough. Researchers say that the skeletal age for gymnasts are regular and/ or the chronological age is ontime but only during childhood. By the time the gymnast reaches late adolescence it is seen as late-maturing.
Researchers from Washington University and University of Australia identified that "adolescent-female-gymnasts’ skeletal systems matured at decreased rates during periods of regular gymnastics training, but then began to catch up during periods of reduced training." This suggests that theres something about gymnastics that affects growth.
At the university of Melbourne, there was research done with active gymnasts, retired gymnasts and non-gymnasts. The results showerd that the active gymnasts were delayed in skeletal age by about a year and three months, had shorter legs and were noticably shorter and stockier than the others.
Shawn Johnson, the famous 16 year old gymnast is only 4 foot 9 and 90 pounds. A non-gymnast 16 year old girl is usually 5'2-5'6. Shawn Johnson may have stunted or delayed her growth.