What is a knee fracture?
The bones of the knee joint are the upper leg bone (femur), the lower leg bones (tibia and fibula), and the kneecap. These bones are usually injured from a direct blow to the knee or from a twisting injury. Occasionally the injured bones are also out of alignment with the other bones in the joint. This is called a dislocation. A child’s bones are different than adults in some important ways. First, the bones of a child are more flexible. Sometimes the bones crack like green branches from a live tree instead of snapping like a dry stick. Other times the bones just buckle slightly. When this happens, the bone is broken but there isn’t a clear fracture line just a slightly raised area on the outside of the bone. The second major difference is that a child’s bones are still growing. Bones grow from an area near their ends called the growth plate. Sometimes fractures occur within the growth plate and can be difficult to see on an x-ray. Fractures in this area can affect the growth of the bo
