Hello and welcome to a new series of the zero to finals podcast where we're going to be talking

about pediatric orthopedic surgery. And my name is Tom and in this first episode I'm going to be going to

be going through fractures. And if you want to follow along with written notes on this topic,

you can follow along at zero.0.15.com

slash fractures or in the orthopedic section of the 0.5aFINES pediatrics book. So let's get

straight into it. Let's start by talking about growth plates, as these are a key component of

bones in children. Growth plates are also known as epiphyseal plates,

and they're found in the bones of children but not in adults.

They're the area at the end of long bones that allow the bones to grow in length.

They're made of hyaline cartilage, and they sit between the epiphysis and the metaphysis of the bone. Once the epiphysis and the metaphysis of the bone.

Once the epiphysis and the metaphysis fuse during the teenage years, the growth

plates become the epiphyseal lines. The growth plate is generally stronger than the rest of the bone.

Let's talk about the differences between the bones of children and the bones of adults.

As we've already mentioned, children have growth plates whereas adults do not.

Children have more cancerless bone, which is the spongy, highly vascular bone in the center of long bones.

Adults have more cortical bone, which is the compact hard bone around the outside.

This makes children's bones more flexible but less strong.

This also makes children's bones prone to green stick fractures, which is where one side of the bone breaks while the other side stays intact.

Bones in children also have a very good blood supply, which means they're able to heal much more quickly with less long-term deformity compared with adult bones.

Let's talk about fractures in children compared with fractures in adults.

The younger the child, the better and the faster the healing of fractures.

When bones fracture in children, they're more likely to break cleanly in half compared with adults.

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