Growth Science
Our guide to the best sports for bone growth already places running in its own "repetitive low-impact" category — different from the jump-heavy sports covered in our basketball and volleyball guides. This piece goes deeper on running specifically: why it doesn't select for height the way net and rim sports do, what the bone-density research actually shows, and the two-sided injury story — a very common overuse pattern most runners will recognize, and a more serious energy-related condition parents and young female runners in particular should know about.
Unlike Basketball or Volleyball, Running Doesn't Select for Height
A study comparing elite sprinters to the general population found sprinters were less variable in height than average, clustering in a moderate range that excludes both very tall and very short athletes — a very different pattern from the extreme height selection documented in our basketball and volleyball guides.
Distance-running success is driven mainly by maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max) and running economy — how efficiently the body uses oxygen at a given pace — not by height. Two runners of very different heights can have nearly identical performance if their physiology and training are similar.
What Actually Determines Height
The remaining share covers diet quality, sleep, general health, and childhood illness — not weekly mileage
Height is set by the same biology covered elsewhere on this site: sex hormones drive growth plates to lengthen bone during the peak height velocity window, then signal those same plates to fuse and close once puberty finishes. Running doesn't touch that hormonal signaling — a growth plate's rate of lengthening responds to growth hormone and IGF-1, not to how many miles a runner logs that week.
The Real Physical Story: Running's Bone-Density Effect Is Modest, Not Absent
Running is a weight-bearing activity, so it does load bone — but it's a different kind of loading than the jump-heavy sports covered elsewhere on this site. Our guide to the best sports for bone growth classifies running as "repetitive low-impact": each footstrike is far gentler than a jump landing, and the loading pattern repeats in the same direction stride after stride, rather than varying in intensity and direction the way jumping, cutting, and pivoting do.
A repeated, moderate ground-reaction force with each stride
Loading is consistent in direction, unlike varied jump-sport loading
Some favorable bone geometry changes occur at the loaded sites
The same repeated strain is also the mechanism behind stress injury
Why running's bone story cuts both ways. The same repetitive loading that produces modest, favorable bone adaptation at low-to-moderate volume is also the mechanism behind running's best-known downside: when training load rises faster than bone can adapt, or when fueling doesn't keep pace with training demand, that same site takes on stress-injury risk instead. That's the real, evidence-based reason running is grouped separately from higher-impact sports for bone health — it isn't that running is bad for bones, it's that the dose and the fueling behind it matter more than in most other activities.
The Real Physical Risk: Running's Two-Sided Injury Story
Running has one of the best-documented injury profiles of any sport, precisely because so many people run and get hurt doing it. The research points to one overwhelmingly common overuse pattern, and a second, more serious condition that's easy to miss because it doesn't always show up as pain.
A note on RED-S specifically: this isn't just an injury to watch for — it's a broader energy-balance condition that can affect a young runner's growth and long-term bone health. Recurring stress fractures, a stalled growth curve, or missed or irregular periods in a teenage female runner are all reasons to involve a pediatrician or sports medicine doctor, the same way our guide to sports and bone growth recommends for any young athlete training intensively in any sport. This is a training-load-and-fueling issue that a doctor can help assess — it isn't something to self-diagnose or manage through willpower alone.
What This Means For You
The practical takeaway: running doesn't make anyone taller — height is roughly 80% genetic, and unlike basketball or volleyball, running doesn't even clearly select for height in the first place. What running genuinely offers is real cardiovascular and modest bone-health benefits, alongside two real, well-documented downsides: a very common overuse injury (runner's knee) and a more serious energy-balance condition (RED-S) that deserves medical attention when it shows up. For how running's bone-density profile compares with other sports, see our guide to the best sports for bone growth, and for how selection effects play out very differently in taller-favoring sports, see our guides to basketball and volleyball.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does running make you taller?
No. Height is roughly 80% determined by genetics, and no amount of running changes when or how much the growth plates lengthen bone. Running also doesn't select for height the way basketball or volleyball do — elite runners come in a wide range of heights.
Why aren't runners as tall as basketball or volleyball players?
Because height isn't a direct competitive advantage in running the way it is at the net or the rim. Research on elite sprinters shows performance clusters around a moderate height range, excluding both very tall and very short athletes, rather than rewarding tallness. Distance-running success depends mainly on VO2 max and running economy, not stature.
What is "runner's knee" and how common is it?
Runner's knee (patellofemoral pain syndrome) is an ache around or behind the kneecap, often worse going up or down stairs. A large case-control study of runners found it was the single most common running injury, ahead of iliotibial band syndrome and plantar fasciitis.
What is RED-S and why does it matter for young runners?
Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) is a medical condition where energy intake doesn't keep pace with training demand, and it can affect bone health, menstrual function, and growth. National injury data shows the highest stress fracture rates of any high school sport in girls' cross country, which is part of why this condition gets particular attention in young distance runners. Recurring stress fractures, missed periods, or a stalled growth curve are reasons to see a doctor.
Is it safe for kids to run distance events?
Generally yes, with sensible training progression. The clearest, most modifiable risk factor in the research is a sudden increase in training volume rather than running itself — building mileage gradually, allowing rest, and taking persistent pain seriously are the main protective habits for a young runner.
