We determined the annual incidence of fracture of the distal end of the radius for patients of all ages and both sexes in the province of Saskatchewan, using two data sets: data on hospital admissions for 1970 through 1984, and data on physician billing for 1978 through 1985. The rate of occurrence of this fracture in children, by age and sex, was compared with longitudinal data on the velocity of growth that was collected during the same time for children from the same population. We compared the incidences of the fracture with the results of studies on the levels of activity in children and adolescents during growth. We also compared the age-specific incidence of the fracture in children with the incidence in adults. For both data sets, the age at the peak incidence of fracture of the distal end of the radius almost perfectly matched the age at which peak velocity of growth in height occurs for boys and girls. For girls, the peak incidence occurred between the ages of 11.5 and 12.5 years and for boys, between 13.5 and 14.5 years; these ages corresponded to the mean peak velocity of growth at 11.9 years for girls and 14.3 years for boys. The age-adjusted incidence of the fracture in male subjects was highest at fourteen years and was not exceeded by that in female subjects until fifty-three to fifty-four years.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)