How to Tell If Growth Plates Are Closed: Signs, Ages, and Testing

By Your Health Magazine Health Information Team

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How to Tell If Growth Plates Are Closed: Signs, Ages, and Testing

Updated August 17, 2026 by the editorial team at Your Health Magazine.

If you are wondering how to tell if growth plates are closed, symptoms alone cannot confirm it. A lack of recent height growth, completion of puberty, and age can provide clues, but none of them proves closure. The most reliable way to assess growth plates is medical imaging—usually an X-ray ordered and interpreted as part of a clinician’s evaluation.

Growth plates, also called epiphyseal plates or physes, are areas of cartilage near the ends of many bones in children and adolescents. They allow bones to grow in length. As skeletal growth ends, the plates gradually thin and are replaced by solid bone. This process is called growth plate closure or fusion.

Quick Answer: What Can Confirm Closed Growth Plates?

Symptoms and age can provide clues, but medical imaging is the only reliable way to determine whether a growth plate is open or fused.

Can Symptoms Alone Confirm That Growth Plates Have Closed?

No. Growth plate closure usually does not cause a specific feeling or symptom. You cannot confirm it from joint sounds, aches, facial hair, menstruation, shoe size, or the absence of a recent growth spurt.

Puberty milestones and height history help a healthcare professional estimate where a person may be in the growth process, but normal development varies widely. Two healthy teenagers of the same age can enter and finish puberty years apart. Growth plates also close at different times in different bones rather than all fusing on one exact date.

Key Signs Your Growth Plates May Have Closed

The following clues can make closure more likely, but they are not definitive without imaging:

• Height has stopped increasing: Several accurate measurements over time show no meaningful upward trend. One home measurement is not enough because posture, time of day, footwear, and measuring technique can change the result.
• Puberty appears complete: Long-bone growth usually ends near the end of puberty. Puberty timing is individual, however, so a single milestone cannot confirm closure.
• You are within or beyond the usual age range: Age can suggest that closure is likely, but early and late maturation are both possible.
• An X-ray shows fusion: On an X-ray, an open growth plate appears as a darker line or gap. As it closes, the line becomes thinner and eventually disappears as cartilage is replaced by bone.

How to Tell If Growth Plates Are Closed: Bone-Age X-Rays

A bone-age study is the usual medical test for estimating skeletal maturity and remaining growth. It typically uses one low-dose X-ray of the left hand, wrist, and fingers. A radiologist or other trained clinician compares the bones and visible growth plates with standardized reference images and assigns a skeletal, or “bone,” age.

The result may show that bone age is similar to, ahead of, or behind chronological age. It can help estimate how much growth may remain and can support an evaluation for early puberty, delayed puberty, unusually slow or rapid growth, or certain endocrine and genetic conditions. Adult-height predictions based on bone age are estimates, not guarantees.

Family height can provide additional context but still cannot determine whether a growth plate has fused. This guide to the midparental height calculator explains one method for estimating a child’s likely adult-height range.

Who Orders a Bone-Age X-Ray?

Bone-age studies are most often ordered by a pediatrician or pediatric endocrinologist. A family physician, orthopedist, or another treating clinician may order imaging when the concern involves growth, puberty, a specific bone, or a growth plate injury. A radiologist generally reads the image and sends a report to the clinician who ordered it.

A hand-and-wrist bone-age X-ray estimates overall skeletal maturity, but it does not individually inspect every growth plate in the body. If a clinician needs to evaluate a particular knee, ankle, wrist, or other area—especially after pain or injury—the clinician may order an X-ray of that specific location. MRI is not routinely needed simply to determine bone age, although it may be used for selected injuries or other medical questions.

Can You Tell If Growth Plates Are Still Open Without an X-Ray?

You can make an informed estimate, but you cannot know with certainty. Growth plates are more likely to remain open when a child or teen is still gaining height on a properly maintained growth chart, puberty is still progressing, or the person is younger than the usual closure range. They are more likely to be closed when height has remained stable across properly measured visits and puberty is complete.

These clues can still be misleading. A person may be growing too slowly to notice at home, and delayed puberty may leave growth potential later than expected. Conversely, early puberty can advance skeletal maturity and close growth plates sooner. If the answer would affect medical treatment or there is a genuine growth concern, a clinician’s evaluation is more useful than guessing from appearance.

How Can You Tell If Growth Plates Have Closed by Age?

Growth plates usually close near the end of puberty. Commonly cited ranges are:

• Girls: Many growth plates close around ages 13–15.
• Boys: Many growth plates close around ages 15–17.

These are general ranges, not deadlines. Some healthy adolescents mature earlier or later, and late-maturing boys may continue growing into ages 18 or 19. The timing also differs by bone. Puberty pattern and bone age are more informative than chronological age alone.

For more context about the timing differences, read why boys and girls grow at different rates during puberty.

Factors That Influence Growth Plate Closure

Genetics and puberty timing are major influences on skeletal maturation. Sex hormones—especially estrogen in both females and males—play an important role in growth plate fusion. Early puberty can advance bone age and cause growth to end sooner, while delayed puberty or certain hormone disorders can delay skeletal maturation.

Chronic illness, significant undernutrition, and some medications or medical conditions can also affect growth. A fracture or repetitive-stress injury may damage a specific growth plate and sometimes cause it to close early, even when other plates remain open.

A balanced diet, adequate sleep, and age-appropriate activity support normal health and development. They cannot override genetics, keep plates open indefinitely, or reopen plates after fusion. Parents and teens can review these fitness tips for teens for practical ways to support safe physical activity.

The Role of Growth Plates in Adolescent Development

Growth plates produce new cartilage that is gradually replaced by bone, allowing the long bones of the arms and legs to lengthen. Once a plate is fully fused, that bone can no longer grow longer through the growth plate. Muscles can still develop, body composition can change, and bones continue remodeling and strengthening after height growth has ended.

Because open growth plates are softer than mature bone, they are more vulnerable to fractures and repetitive-stress injuries. Persistent pain near a joint after an injury, swelling, tenderness, a limp, visible deformity, or difficulty putting weight on a limb should be medically evaluated promptly.

Height and Growth Plate Myths

Myth: “Growing pains” prove that growth plates are open.

So-called growing pains do not confirm active bone growth or open growth plates. The American Academy of Pediatrics notes that growth itself is not considered the cause of these common aches.

Myth: Stretching, hanging, or special exercises can make long bones grow.

Stretching and exercise can improve flexibility, strength, and posture, but they do not lengthen fused long bones. Temporary changes in measured height from posture or normal spinal compression are not new bone growth.

Myth: Strength training closes growth plates or stunts height.

Properly designed, well-supervised strength training does not stunt growth or damage growth plates. Unsafe technique, excessive loads, overtraining, or injuries can harm a young athlete, so instruction and age-appropriate progression matter.

Myth: Supplements, extra protein, or calcium can reopen growth plates.

Good nutrition helps a growing child meet normal nutritional needs and supports bone health. Taking more than the body needs does not force additional height, delay normal closure, or reopen a fused growth plate. Products claiming to increase height after fusion are not supported by established medical evidence.

When to Ask a Healthcare Professional About Growth

Consider discussing growth with a pediatrician or family clinician when a child or teen:

• Shows a clear slowing or downward shift on the growth chart.
• Appears to begin puberty much earlier or later than peers.
• Has stopped growing unexpectedly or is growing unusually quickly.
• Has a chronic illness, significant nutritional concern, or symptoms suggesting a hormone problem.
• Has persistent pain, swelling, deformity, or limited use of a limb after an injury.
• Has a noticeable difference in limb length or alignment.

The clinician may review serial height measurements, family growth patterns, puberty development, nutrition, medications, and health history before deciding whether a bone-age X-ray, blood tests, or specialist referral is appropriate.

General FAQs

How long do growth plates remain open?

They generally remain open through childhood and much of puberty. Many close around ages 13–15 in girls and 15–17 in boys, but normal variation and bone-specific differences mean age alone cannot confirm closure.

Can exercise affect growth plate closure?

Normal, age-appropriate activity does not make growth plates close early. Supervised strength training does not stunt growth. However, fractures and repetitive-stress injuries can damage an open growth plate, so persistent pain or an acute injury should be assessed.

Does diet influence growth plate development?

Adequate calories, protein, calcium, vitamin D, and other nutrients support normal growth and bone health. Significant nutritional deficiency can impair growth, but extra nutrients cannot extend bones beyond a person’s biological potential or reopen fused plates.

Are there medical treatments for unusually early or delayed closure?

Treatment depends on the cause and must be managed by an appropriate clinician, often a pediatric endocrinologist or pediatric orthopedist. Some diagnosed hormone or puberty disorders can be treated while growth potential remains. A damaged growth plate may require orthopedic monitoring or treatment. There is no single treatment appropriate for everyone.

Is it possible to reopen growth plates?

There is currently no established medical method for reopening a normally fused growth plate to restart natural height growth. Once a growth plate has been replaced by solid bone, that bone no longer lengthens through the plate.

Takeaways

• Symptoms, puberty milestones, and age can suggest closure but cannot confirm it.
• A left-hand-and-wrist bone-age X-ray is the usual test for estimating skeletal maturity and remaining growth.
• Bone-age studies are commonly ordered by pediatricians or pediatric endocrinologists; a specific injury may require imaging of the affected area.
• Many growth plates close around ages 13–15 in girls and 15–17 in boys, with meaningful normal variation.
• Exercise, stretching, supplements, or extra nutrients cannot reopen fused growth plates or guarantee additional height.
• A clinician should evaluate unexpected changes in growth, unusually early or delayed puberty, or a possible growth plate injury.

Learning how to tell if growth plates are closed begins with understanding the limits of outward signs. Growth history and puberty provide useful context, but medical imaging is the dependable way to assess skeletal maturity when the answer is clinically important.

Sources

• Nemours KidsHealth: Growth Plates
• Nemours KidsHealth: X-Ray Exam—Bone Age Study
• Pediatric Endocrine Society: Constitutional Growth Delay
• American Academy of Pediatrics: Understanding Growth Charts
• American Academy of Pediatrics: Growing Pains
• American Academy of Pediatrics: Strength Training
• American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons: Growth Plate Fractures

This article provides general health information and is not a substitute for individualized medical advice.