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I'm not sure if I selected the appropriate stackexchange sub-site, probably I had to use 'biology' instead, but I think those ones of you, who are doctors, are familiar with biology as well.

I'm just wondering, is there any safe way to increase bones length using medicine / science? My question might sound weird for you, but I'll explain why am I asking that. The thing is that I've been playing piano for a years, but I unfortunately my hands aren't big (just a regular ones, or probably even a little bit smaller than average male hands), however I would like to take wide chords, I need to do something to increase the length of my fingers a little bit (3-7mm for each finger should give me +1cm for a hand span [probably a little bit more]), and I try to find a way to do that using science.

pianoplayer
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  • Depends on if your bones are still growing naturally or not. Have you reached your adult height yet? – Mark Feb 13 '16 at 01:02
  • As a piano player with small hands, I suggest you take a look at http://music.stackexchange.com/questions/12523/difficulty-playing-piano-due-to-my-small-hands-and-short-fingers-anyway-around and http://music.stackexchange.com/questions/8013/do-the-hands-sizes-affect-piano-learning-performance if you can reach an octave (I am a woman with small hands and I can do that) you should be able to play most things – YviDe Feb 14 '16 at 13:51
  • @Mark, yes, I'm already in adult. – pianoplayer Feb 20 '16 at 14:05
  • @YviDe, I can play octaves, the maximum interval I can play is 10th and it's not enough for me, however augmented 10th is something I can't play, I wish I could play 11th, it's very important for me to play them, most music genres I like and most my favourite pianists had big hands and it's nearly impossible to play like them with my hands. By the way I've read links you sent me, but unfortunately they didn't help, I know all these things about stretch and other things, I've already trained them, but I still need to increase my hand size / fingers length somehow. – pianoplayer Feb 20 '16 at 14:07
  • See this question and answer. There are some extreme surgical solutions, but I'm not aware of them having been applied to hands before, just long bones for height. – JohnP Apr 13 '16 at 14:44

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As an adult, no, there's no safe way to lengthen your bones. The epiphyseal plates at the ends of your bones have ossified, so hormonal treatments have nothing to operate on.

There is a technique for lengthening bones in adults, distraction osteogenesis, where the bones are intentionally broken and then stretched during the healing process. I've never heard of it being used on the fingers (as opposed to the leg bones or the jaw), and it's got a relatively high complication rate.

Mark
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