a department of orthopaedic surgery and rheumatology , nagoya university graduate school of medicine , aichi , japan. · b department of orthopaedic surgery and rheumatology , nagoya medical centre , aichi , japan. · c department of rheumatology , toyohashi municipal hospital , toyohashi , japan. · d department of orthopaedic surgery , toyota kosei hospital , toyota , japan. · e department of orthopaedic surgery , nagoya central hospital , nagoya , japan. · f ito orthopaedic clinic , nagoya , japan. · g kato orthopaedic clinic , okazaki , japan. · h saito orthopaedic clinic , nagoya , japan. · pubmed 26140467 by the way, the tallest man ever lived on earth, had an increase of 2 m 48 cm (!). sometimes the secretion of growth hormone increases dramatically already in the adult body, when most of the growth zones are already closed. in this case, the person's lower jaw, nose, hands and feet are significantly grown. this condition is called acromegaly, i.e. increase in peripheral parts of the body. in an adult and fully formed body, somatotropin performs anabolic functions.