A height velocity curve (Fig. 14.2) is obtained by plotting the height gained during each year and yields important information about the growth pattern of a child. The three phases of growth in childhood are easily recognised: initially, there is a period of rapid and rapidly decelerating growth in infancy, with a subsequent period of steady and slowly decelerating growth in middle childhood, followed by a rapid rise and fall of growth at adolescence. These phases of growth are primarily dependent on nutrition, growth hormone (GH), and sex steroids, respectively.
