Astronauts can grow three inches during space missions

Astronauts can grow three inches during space missions.Weightlessness allows their spines to straighten and makes people who have travelled into space 'grow', but the spine is soon crunched back to normal by gravity on Earth and leaves astronauts in crippling pain.

Experts from Johns Hopkins University in the United States found that space travellers could have a smaller curve in their spine upon their return from orbit.

Dr Radostin Penchev, a physician at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, said: "Humans can ‘grow’ up to three inches in space as the spine adapts to microgravity.

"If reduced gravity allows this curvature to straighten, this could not only be a cause of acute pain in astronauts, but it could also affect the stability of their spine when they return to Earth."

The experts say that 80 per cent of space travellers had back pain at some point after touching back down on Earth.

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