Growth plate injuries, often mistaken for sprains, are common in children and adolescents and can affect bone development.

These injuries occur at the ends of long bones and can result in stunted or crooked growth if left untreated.

It happens in a flash.

Kids are playing, running, jumping and doing all the wonderful things parents want them to do away from their screens, and then you hear it: the cry that says this time it’s the real thing.

Different from the “hurt feelings cry” or the “overwhelm wail,” you know the sound even before you rush to scoop up the injured child and do a head-to-toe scan. You learn to evaluate. Is this an ER visit, a call to the pediatrician or an ice pack and a Disney movie?

Ashley Startzman, pediatric orthopedic surgeon with Shriners Children’s Greenville

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