Growth plates are the softest and weakest sections of the skeleton — sometimes even weaker than surrounding ligaments and tendons. An injury that might cause a joint sprain for an adult can cause a growth plate fracture in a child.
Growth plate fractures happen the way any fracture can happen, most commonly through sports or playground accidents.
Most growth plate fractures heal and do not affect future bone growth. However, sometimes changes in the growth plate from the fracture can cause problems later. For example, the bone could end up a little crooked or slightly longer or shorter than expected.
A growth plate fracture usually causes persistent pain. Other common symptoms include: Visible deformity, such as a crooked appearance of the limb. An inability to move or put pressure on the limb.
Growth plates disappear when the skeleton reaches maturity and the bones stop growing. However, bones can stop growing earlier — stunting physical development and causing functional problems — if the growth plates become severely damaged, Dr. Ballock says.
At that point growth plates are considered closed. Typically, girls' growth plates close when they're about 14-15 years old on average. Boys' growth plates close by around the time they turn 16-17 on average. This occurs earlier in some individuals and later in others.
Good sleeping habits, such as getting enough sleep and maintaining a consistent sleep schedule, can also promote growth by allowing the body to release growth hormones during the night.
Because they are even weaker than the nearby ligaments and tendons that connect bones to other bones and muscles, growth plates are vulnerable to injury. Injuries to the growth plate (fractures) can result from a single traumatic event, such as a fall or automobile accident, or from chronic stress and overuse.
Growth plates are the softest and weakest sections of the skeleton — sometimes even weaker than surrounding ligaments and tendons. An injury that might cause a joint sprain for an adult can cause a growth plate fracture in a child.
Children grow taller because their bones grow longer. This bone elongation occurs at the growth plate, a cartilaginous structure that is located near the ends of many bones in children, including long bones, the short tubular bones of the hands and feet, and the vertebrae.
As with a sprain or pulled muscle, a child with a growth plate injury may have pain or tenderness at the site of the injury and difficulty moving the affected area. Many growth plate injuries are mild and heal well without treatment.
Children's bones have areas of new bone growth called growth plates at both ends. They add length and width to the bone. They can be seen on an X-ray because they're softer and contain less mineral, making them appear darker on an X-ray image than the rest of the bone. Bones and growth plates change over time.
Growth plate injuries can be caused by a trauma from a fall or injury from a competitive sport. It can also be the result of overuse from a repetitive activity, such as softball pitching. Growth plate injuries account for approximately 15 to 30% of all fractures doctors treat in children and adolescents.
Because of their soft nature, these parts of the bone are vulnerable to injury during the development of a child. This is a region of the bone that is sometimes weaker than the surrounding tendons and ligaments. As a result, up to 30% of fractures in children can occur around the growth plates.
Most growth plate injuries will heal without affecting growth. The risk of problems depends on many factors, such as how serious the injury is, how old your child is and which bone they broke. If your child has or might have a growth plate injury, the doctor will ask you to watch for signs of growth problems.
The Salter-Harris system classifies growth plate fractures into five groups: type I, fracture through the growth plate; type II, fracture through the growth plate and metaphysis; type III, fracture through the growth plate and epiphysis; type IV, fracture through the growth plate, epiphysis and metaphysis, and type V, ...
Growth plates are made up of cartilage that has the potential to become new bone growth. They appear as dark lines on an X-ray. If the growth plates are not visible on an X-ray, these bones are done growing. There isn't any more material for the body to grow into new bones.
As many as one-third of all childhood fractures are growth-plate injuries. Growth-plate injuries are twice as likely to occur in boys than in girls. Girls' bodies mature earlier than boys' bodies, so their growth plates are replaced by stronger bone at an earlier age.
How common are growth plate fractures? Up to one-third of all the fractures that occur in children are growth plate fractures. They are more common in boys than girls. In fact, boys are twice as likely to have growth plate fractures as girls, because girls' bones stop growing and harden at an earlier age.
In males, there are typically two major growth spurts that occur during childhood and adolescence: Childhood Growth Spurt: This growth spurt occurs between the ages of two to three years and ten to twelve years. During this time, boys typically grow at a steady rate of about two to three inches per year.
The hypertrophic zone is the weakest because it lacks both collagen and calcified tissue. Most physeal separations occur through this layer because it is less able to resist shearing stress. Figure 10: Anatomy of the physis (growth plate).
This means that growth does not stop at a particular age, but children who are 'early developers' will stop growing before late developers. After the growth plates fuse, there is no more increase in height, and we all then shrink gradually as we get older.
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And while it's difficult to say just how much your child will grow during this time, you can count on most of it happening, for girls, between 10 and 14 years, and, for boys, between 12 and 16 years.
Most boys grow in height only a little after the age of 18. In rare cases, children hit puberty in their teens and continue to grow in height until the age of 20. The reason most boys stop growing in height after puberty is that the growth plates have fused.