ABSTRACT
Fractures in childhood are common. Although the physis is the weakest link in the immature skeleton, only 18 per cent of bony injuries actually involve the growth plate (Mizuta et al. 1987). Physeal injuries are considered to have a favourable outcome, ‘healing quickly’ and ‘remodelling with time’; nevertheless, any surgeon involved with such cases is fully aware that joint incongruity and premature growth arrest do occur. Some authors believe that these dreaded complications are predictable and, under certain circumstances, are preventable (Salter and Harris 1963). However, before an outcome can be so assured, a sound understanding of the pathological anatomy is required.
