I'd have branches breaking off every chinense every year if I didn't stake and tie them. Too much wind and too heavy from pods on the ends after the first few months have passed. While I'll tie the plant to the stake for the first few (usually 3) forks, after that I instead start lacing twine around the circumference of the plant through the branches and it never contacts the post.
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There is a bright side to a broken branch, that where it allows sun to hit a new site on the plant that will encourage it to grow a new branch there, though if it happens late in the season the new branch doesn't have enough time to produce any viable pods.