Why obese kids have worse bone breaks

By Kimberly Gillan|


Obese children who break their elbows are more likely to have complex fractures and more complications than children with healthy weight.


A quarter of Australian children are overweight or obese, which puts them at risk of Type 2 diabetes, eating disorders, problems with foot structure, as well as liver, lung and heart conditions.

Now a study has shown their musculoskeletal system is also at risk.

Researchers from the University of Michigan studied 350 children aged between two and 11 who had undergone operations to treat arm fractures called supracondylar humeral fractures.

They found the obese children were more likely to have complex fractures, and also have more post-surgery complications.

"These findings show that children diagnosed with obesity are more likely to sustain these complex fractures from something as simple as falling onto an outstretched hand while standing, and these types of falls are quite common,” said author Michelle Caird, an assistant professor in the department of orthopaedic surgery at the University of Michigan.


The findings reflected recent studies that found overweight kids who break their femur (thigh bone) tended to have more complications than healthy weight kids.

This comes after research last week showed half of parents of obese children don't realise the kids are overweight.

Professor Louise Baur, a childhood obesity expert at the Children's Hospital at Westmead, told ninemsn this study adds further evidence to what doctors already suspected.

"When you are a bigger person and you fall, there is more weight on the same types of bones, compared with somebody who is lighter," she said.

"Obese children as a group do have poorer motor skills, so it may be that as a result they are more likely to fall over."

Professor Baur said there are a lot of adverse health effects for obese children.

"Obese children are more likely to have flat feet and major hip and knee problems as children," she said.

Professor Baur said there are a number of things parents can do to limit their child's chances of being obese.

"Provide your children with healthy food, sit down as a family to eat together, limit their screen time, give them lots of opportunities to play outside and make sure they get enough sleep," she said.

"Lots of families could take this on board, whether they are thin or overweight."


Source: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Author: Kimberly Gillan; Approving editor: Rory Kinsella.
