Can the knemometer shorten the time for growth rate assessment?

A total of 105 healthy children of both sexes and various ages were measured once or twice weekly by knemometry over periods of 161-202 days on 11-50 occasions. These data were used to calculate percentiles of the predictive error that occurred if short-term lower leg length differences were used to extrapolate half-annual growth rates. From these data, and observations on day-to-day variations of the lower leg length, it was concluded that growth rates derived from single differences between two consecutive lower leg length measurements are invalid and without predictive power for mean long-term lower leg increments. However, a novel statistical approach is presented, which results in the evaluation of daily lower leg growth rates to visualize quasi-continuous growth kinetics. Examples of successful and unsuccessful growth promoting therapeutic interventions are provided to demonstrate knemometric assessment of a significant modification of short-term growth kinetics.