View Full Version : How can bone age be less than chronological age?

10-16-2006, 11:29 AM
On the referral letter we got it says that

"12+7 years of age though her bone age is less than that"

I understand they are saying that her bones don't match her age but DD keeps asking me how your bones can be younger than you are since you are born with your bones. I don't know what to tell her. I don't get it either how your bones can be younger than you are.

Is it just because she still has a lot of growth to do or is there something else?

Anyone know?

10-16-2006, 11:53 AM
I understand how confusing this is. However, maybe you could explain to her that everyone reaches maturity at a different age. If our bones and hormones and the rest of our body were exactly the same, everyone would reach maturity at the same age, right? It doesn't work that way.

Some people's bone age is younger than their chronological age for various reasons - hormones, trauma/injury, medical conditions, etc. My Braydon is 11yrs old, but his bone age is younger than 11yrs old. What that means for him is that his bones will take a longer time to reach skeletal maturity than he would if he grew normally. For Braydon, this gives his spine more time to grow as much as possible before needing stabilization surgery.

The docs can tell approximate bone age by the hips, hands, etc. - places that have growth plates they can measure the growth. Braydon's hips show that he isn't even pre-pre-pubescent yet.

Good luck.

10-16-2006, 01:03 PM

For us, my daughter's bone age was older than she was. When she was 13 y.o. her bone age was 14 1/2 y.o.

Mary Lou