Stress on Children’s Growth Plates

Royal Oak Pediatric Associates provides school and sports physicals in Marion, and Abingdon, VA, for your children. Physicals and wellness visits by Dr. Anita Henley, Dr. Tara Etter, and nurse practitioners, Becky Ewald and Brittany Thomas are important to track your child's growth and development. Especially when your child plays sports, it's important to have regular physicals to see that they have healthy development and help prevent potential injuries.

What is a growth plate?

Growth plates are areas of new bone growth we see in children and adolescents. They are made of cartilage which is more porous and flexible than solid bone. Most growth plates are located at the end of some of the major bones in the body including the arms, legs, hands, and feet. Growth plates are usually on either end of the bone, and as a child matures it hardens into solid bone to add length and width to the bone. Most growth plates close, or harden into solid bone, by the end of puberty when a child fully matures. This is from ages 15-17 in boys and ages 13-15 in girls

Growth plate injuries

Growth plates are weaker than solid bone and are part of an overall immature skeletal system, so they are more prone to injury. When you get a school or sports physical in Marion, and Abingdon, VA, your doctor can advise you on the best way to prevent injuries when playing your sport of choice.

The most common growth plate injuries happen to the ankle, wrist, and knee growth plates when your child is active in sports. Most growth plate fractures heal and do not affect future bone growth, but sometimes a fracture in the growth plate can change the overall shape of the bone, making it crooked, or longer or shorter than expected. Your doctor can monitor any of these changes in the bone.

Royal Oak Pediatric Associates provides school and sports physicals in Marion, and Abingdon, VA, to help monitor your child's bone growth. To make an appointment with Dr. Henley, Dr. Etter, and nurse practitioners, Becky Ewald and Brittany Thomas contact us at (276) 783-8183 or (276) 525-4603.