What Are Fractures?
Fractures are cracks or breaks in bones.
Types of Fractures
There are several types of fractures:
Simple fractures
Soft tissue swelling.
Simple fractures are breaks or cracks in the bone that do not break through the skin.
Open fractures
Open fractures are breaks in which the bone sticks through the skin.
Traumatic fractures
Most fractures occur due to injury, such as falling while running, pedaling a bicycle or riding a skateboard.
These types of injures happen to healthy children with healthy bones. The bone gets more force than it is able to handle and breaks.
Stress fractures
Both-bone forearm fracture.
These fractures can happen when a child repeats the same position or motion over and over for long periods of time.
Pathologic fractures
This type of fracture occurs because the bone is weaker than normal. A pathologic fracture is usually due to holes in the bone (bone cysts) or certain bone conditions, such as brittle bone disorder (osteogenesis imperfecta).
Brittle bone disorder is an inherited (genetic) condition where bones break easily for little apparent reason.
Fractures in Children
Because children are flexible, their bones may bend after a break. They may straighten out as they heal. This process is called remodeling.
Because of remodeling, a child’s broken bone will heal better and with less treatment than a similar break in an adult. But some children's fractures that look simple to treat can cause serious problems and affect the bone’s ability to grow.
In every child’s bones, growth occurs at specific points called growth centers or growth plates. Often, these points are near the ends of the bone. If the growth plate is damaged by a fracture or another injury, the bone may stop growing.
This serious problem is called a growth arrest. Growth arrest can permanently stop a bone’s development and change how it functions.
Fractures are very common in children. About half of all boys and a quarter of all girls break a bone sometime during childhood. Stress and pathologic fractures are much less common. Children usually develop stress fractures as the result of overuse, such as prolonged running or after an increase in activity.
Fractures at Seattle Children’s
At Seattle Children’s, we understand children’s growing bones. We have the knowledge and experience to provide expert fracture care, including surgical treatment of the most complex cases.
We treat more than 1,000 children with fractures each year. In the summer, when children play the hardest, we see 10 children with fractures on our busiest days. Many of the children we treat are referred to us from other doctors and hospitals throughout the Pacific Northwest.