Does the Northern Praying Mantis Kung Fu style favor breaking techniques?

In the Tang Lang Ch'uan system, or Northern Praying Mantis Kung Fu, does the style favor breaking techniques. I've read from this article, http://www.shaolin.com/StyleContent.aspx?Style=Praying_Mantis, that this technique utilizes the breaking of elbow joints, but the breaking techniques are "strikes", like elbow strikes and star-of-the-palm strikes. I don't get how someone can break an elbow joint by striking with the palm of the elbow itself, by striking not twisting.