How to Get Taller Fast (5 Easy Tips)

Height is frequently correlated with social dominance [1] and self-esteem boost [2] and as a result, the perception of not being tall enough may have devastating repercussions on a person’s mental health. These may lead to untreatable disorders such as anxiety, depression, and hopelessness. Thus, it is crucial to find effective solutions to such a prevalent problem.

Luckily, nowadays there are many solutions to effectively increase the appearance of your height and get taller fast. These approaches can be as subtle as inserting invisible heels in your shoes, or as complex as undergoing limb lengthening surgery. Regardless of the method you choose, we’ll show you how to gain a few extra inches quickly.

How To Get Taller With Heel Inserts

Are you going to a gala event tonight in need to portray yourself as a confident person but you are having some self-doubts due to your height? Well, the heel inserts are one of the cheapest and fastest ways to increase your height. All you need to do is to insert some stuffing inside your shoes to get a few inches taller.

What’s great about this approach is the affordable price that comes with it. You could opt to just grab some clean socks and place them inside your shoes. As a result, when you put on your shoes you will step on your socks and automatically gain a few inches.

While cost-effective, just sticking a sock in your shoes will cause foot and ankle pain after some time, therefore, a better solution would be to purchase heel inserts. These are designed to increase your height while giving you solid support to your feet to prevent any kind of pain from emerging as a consequence of the inserts. However, you should also be wary that sustained use of heel inserts may also negatively affect your balance [3] and even cause discomfort when walking [4]. Some of the best heel inserts available online are:

• Jota inserts (1 inch)
• ​​Footinsole inserts (1 inch)
• Astrqle inserts (0.9-1.5 inches)
• SOL3 Premium inserts (1-2.3 inches)
• 6FT Club insert (2.5 inches).

Increase Your Height With the Right Shoes

Another effective way to become taller in a short period of time would be to buy the right kind of shoes. One of the traditional approaches which were mainly seen in past decades was platform shoes. However, due to high discomfort and unnatural looks, their popularity decreased immensely. Nowadays, shoes for both men and women may instead include a subtle high heel that will increase your height by a few inches right away. What’s great about getting these height-increasing shoes is that they vary greatly from style to style, thus, allowing you to have a set of shoes that increase your height for every kind of occasion.

Running shoes are great height-increasing shoes given that they come with an already embedded sole that also aids with foot support and overall comfortability. Running shoes such as Nike Air Max or regular New Balance running shoes can give you 1- 2.5 inches of added height.

On the other hand, if you are going on a fancy date maybe running shoes aren’t the best suit for your outfit. Fortunately, the hidden heel in dress shoes will increase your height by a few inches.

If you are not satisfied with the height increment you obtained from these options you could also try elevator shoes. You can find these types of height-increasing shoes in online stores such as Guidomaggi where they guarantee an increment of up to 6 inches in your height. In addition, they also have a variety of styles you can pick from. Moreover, current research [5] is working on specialized shoes in which you can even control the amount of height you wish to gain by increasing the hidden heel height of your shoes through a mobile application.

Stand Taller by Fixing Your Posture

One of the easiest hacks to increase your height in a jiffy is to just fix your posture! Although, sometimes easier said than done, especially in cases where people suffer from disorders like kyphosis (forward or rounded shoulders) [6], anterior pelvic tilt (APT) [7], and scoliosis (curvature of the spine) [8], still, there are several exercises and stretches that you can follow to appear a few centimeters taller. These may include:

• Muscular Chains Therapy (MCT)
• Segmental Stretch Technique (SST) [9]
• Face pull exercises
• Yoga [10]
• Calisthenics/Bodyweight exercises [11]

Following any of these methods will help your posture, therefore, increase your height. In the end, when it comes to posture don’t forget to stand up straight, chest out, shoulders back and look straight. Don’t look down and slumped forward. Stand with confidence; stand taller by fixing your posture.

How to Get Taller For Kids

If you want to become taller yet have not reached adulthood then you are in luck. The best time to try to improve and control your height is during your growing phase in life (under 18-25 years old). At this time, many environmental factors can have a major impact on the height you’ll reach by the time you are an adult.

First, you need to get the right amount of sleep every night. Sleep is one of the foundations of a healthy lifestyle. As a kid or a teenager, you release a lot of growth hormones during deep sleep. It is recommended [12] that young people undergo undisturbed deep sleep for 7-9 hours.

Second, you need to have balanced nutrition. Nutrition is another pillar for a healthy lifestyle. After all, this is the source of nutrients that allow your body to function 24/7. Moreover, just eating whatever you want is not enough. Instead, eat foods containing the nutrients needed in your every day life while avoiding those that may contain harmful constituents. Just remember, we are what we eat.

In a study [13] published in the Cambridge University Press, they concluded that the main reasons for growth stunting are a lack of dietary energy in conjunction with iodine, zinc, and multiple micronutrient deficiencies. A great way to fix nutrient deficiency is to ask your nutritionist for recommendations on appropriate supplements for your specific condition. Moreover, the researchers also found that only milk has been shown to have a significant influence on children’s growth.

Lastly, don’t forget about staying active and maintaining your posture! As mentioned previously, there are a ton of exercises that help you stand taller. More importantly, kids need to exercise regularly since they release more hormones after a vigorous workout. In a study [14] led by the Pediatric Exercise Research and Genomic Center at the University of California, they found that 10 intervals of high-intensity 15 second pedaling increased the levels of growth hormones in children.

How to Permanently Get Taller – Leg (Limb) Lengthening Surgery

If all else fails and you’re an adult, then leg lengthening is an option to get taller in under a year. Leg, or limb lengthening has gained more popularity over the last decade due to its advances in effectiveness. There are different types of surgeries you can get such as the Precise Nail or the Stryde Nail limb lengthening [15], as well as an array of different health professionals certified to perform the procedure.

While an expensive and effortful solution, limb lengthening surgery provides a permanent fix to rapidly become taller in a matter of months. Moreover, given the tremendous amount of work required to have a successful limb lengthening surgery, it’s important to notice that this should be a last resort. Additionally, if a loved one decides to undergo this surgery, you should be sympathetic enough to understand why they would do it and support them along the way.

References

[1] Neave, N., Pollet, T. V., Lyons, M., Brewer, G., & McCarrick, D. (2020). Referee height influences decision making in British football leagues. BMC Psychology, 8(4). 10.1186/s40359-020-0370-4

[2] Paksoy, F. D., & Tasar, S. (2021). The Effect of Adolescents’ Height and Weight and Their Perceptions on Self-Esteem, Hopelessness, and Social Anxiety/Ergenlerin Boy ve Kilo Degerleri ve Bunlarla Ilgili Algilarinin Benlik Saygisi, Umutsuzluk ve Sosyal Anksiyete Uzerine Etkisi. Turkish Journal of Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 28(2). 10.4274/tjcamh.galenos.2021.69772

[3] Wan, F. K.W., Yick, K.-L., & Yu, W. W.M. (2019). Effects of heel height and high-heel experience on foot stability during quiet standing. Gait & Posture, 68, 252-257. 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2018.12.004

[4] Yung-Hui, L., & Wei-Hsien, H. (2005). Effects of shoe inserts and heel height on foot pressure, impact force, and perceived comfort during walking. Applied Ergonomics, 36(3), 355-362. 10.1016/j.apergo.2004.11.001

[5] Kumar, N., Panda, S. N., & Kaushal, R. K. (2020). High heel shoes with adjustable height of the heel. Materials Science and Engineering, 993. 10.1088/1757-899x/993/1/012120

[6] Oner, F. C., Vaccaro, A. R., Schnake, K. J., Rajasekaran, S., Kandziora, F., Dvorak, M. F., Chapman, J. R., Lehr, A. M., Verlaan, J.-J., & Sadiqi, S. (2016). Measurement of kyphosis and vertebral body height loss in traumatic spine fractures: an international study. European Spine Journal, 26, 1483–1491. 10.1007/s00586-016-4716-9

[7] Waldemar, M., Ewa, D.-W., Krystyna, C., Arleta, H., & Monika, M.-S. (2018). Examining relationships of the anterior pelvic tilt angle with the anterior-posterior curvatures and elongation of the spine. Acta of Bioengineering and Biomechanics. 10.5277/ABB-01259-2018-02

[8] Shimizu, M., Kobayashi, T., Chiba, H., Senoo, I., Ito, H., Matsukura, K., & Saito, S. (2020). Adult spinal deformity and its relationship with height loss: a 34-year longitudinal cohort study. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 21. 10.1186/s12891-020-03464-2

[9] Marques, A. P., do Rosário, J. L. P., Nakashima, I. Y., Rizopoulos, K., & Kostopoulos, D. (2012). Improving posture: Comparing Segmental Stretch and Muscular Chains Therapy. Clinical Chiropractic, 15(3-4), 121-128. 10.1016/j.clch.2012.10.039

[10] Likitha, B., Chandra, L. S., Nithya, M., Jiby, P., & Rajalaxmi, V. (2018). Effectiveness of three dimensional approach of schroth method and yoga on pulmonary function test and posture in upper crossed syndrome with neck Pain-A double blinded study. Research Journal of Pharmacy and Technology, 11(5). 10.5958/0974-360X.2018.00341.4

[11] Palma, A., Messina, G., Paoli, A., Tabacchi, G., Patti, A., Mancuso, E.P., Bianco, A., & Thomas, E. (2017). The effects of a calisthenics training intervention on posture, strength and body composition. Isokinetics and Exercise Science, 25. 10.3233/IES-170001

[12] Broekman, B. F., Schneider, N., & Tham, E. K. (2017). Infant sleep and its relation with cognition and growth: a narrative review. Nat Sci Sleep, 9. 10.2147/NSS.S125992

[13] Millward, D. J. (2017). Nutrition, infection and stunting: the roles of deficiencies of individual nutrients and foods, and of inflammation, as determinants of reduced linear growth of children. Nutrition Research Reviews, 30(1). 10.1017/S0954422416000238

[14] Dror, N., Pantanowitz, M., Nemet, D., & Eliakim, A. (2021). High-intensity interval exercise test stimulates growth hormone secretion in children. Growth Hormone & IGF Research, 57-58. 10.1016/j.ghir.2021.101388

[15] Galal, S., Shin, J., Principe, P., Khabyeh-Hasbani, N., Mehta, R., Hamilton, A., Rozbruch, S. R., & Fragomen, A. T. (2021). STRYDE versus PRECICE magnetic internal lengthening nail for femur lengthening. Orthopaedic Surgery. 10.1007/s00402-021-03943-8