Growth Plate Injuries

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• What Is the Growth Plate?
• Who Gets Growth Plate Injuries?
• What Causes Growth Plate Injuries?
• How Are Growth Plate Fractures Diagnosed?
• What Kind of Doctor Treats Growth Plate Injuries?
• How Are Growth Plate Injuries Treated?
• What Is the Prognosis for Growth in the Involved Limb of a Child With a Growth Plate Injury?
• What Are Researchers Trying To Learn About Growth Plate Injuries?
• Where Can People Find More Information About Growth Plate Injuries?

What Is the Growth Plate?

The growth plate, also known as the epiphyseal plate or physis, is the area of growing tissue near the end of the long bones in children and adolescents. Each long bone has at least two growth plates: one at each end. The growth plate determines the future length and shape of the mature bone. When growth is complete--sometime during adolescence--the growth plates close and are replaced by solid bone.

Who Gets Growth Plate Injuries?

These injuries occur in children and adolescents. The growth plate is the weakest area of the growing skeleton, weaker than the nearby ligaments and tendons that connect bones to other bones and muscles. In a growing child, a serious injury to a joint is more likely to damage a growth plate than the ligaments that stabilize the joint. An injury that would cause a sprain in an adult can be associated with a growth plate injury in a child.

Injuries to the growth plate are fractures. They comprise 15 percent of all childhood fractures. They occur twice as often in boys as in girls, with the greatest incidence among 14- to 16-year-old boys and 11- to 13-year-old girls. Older girls experience these fractures less often because their bodies mature at an earlier age than boys. As a result, their bones finish growing sooner, and their growth plates are replaced by stronger, solid bone.

Approximately half of all growth plate injuries occur in the lower end of the outer bone of the forearm (radius) at the wrist. These injuries also occur frequently in the lower bones of the leg (tibia and fibula). They can also occur in the upper leg bone (femur) or in the ankle, foot, or hip bone.

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