When you break a bone, your body is programmed to begin a process that will “knit” the bone back together and heal. Bone is a living tissue, just like your heart, brain, liver etc. When you break a bone, it is not like breaking a stick of wood; the bone will bleed, and immediately begin the healing process. Technically speaking, a fracture triggers a process in which cells in your bone change from an resting state and become very active at making new bone. This process produces what is called “fracture callus”. When your doctor shows you the x-ray of your fracture healing, it will look like a big ‘lump’ of bone where the fracture occurred. Sometimes when you feel your arm during the healing process, you can feel this lump, which is normal. Once the ends of the bone have knitted themselves together, your body will then begin a process of remodeling of the fracture callus. In most kids, the bone will eventually return to its normal appearance and it will be difficult to tell if there ever was a fracture. Is the bone stronger after it has been broken? This is a tricky question. In general, we don’t go out and try to re-break your child’s broken bone to see how strong it actually is! However, there is an time right after the final cast is removed that you child’s bone is probably weaker than it was before the break. This is a time when you may want to try to limit your child’s more dangerous activities. When the bone is completely healed, the diameter of the bone can be bigger; it this instance, the bone is actually stronger until is completely remodels back to the normal, pre-fracture state.