A Study of Anthropometric and Morphological Variation in Adult Human Femora and Its Clinical Relevance

Introduction: The femur is the longest bone in the body and it is also known as thigh bone. Femur have proximal and distal end. The proximal end is articulated with the acetabulum cavity of hip bone and foes the hip joint. The proximal end has head, neck and two trochanters (greater and lesser) on the upper part of the shaft. Aims and Objectives: To determine the morphological and morphometric measurements of the femur and to find the correlation between the length and head dimensions of femur Material and Methods: Sixty human femur bones were employed in the study. The measurement of head and neck of femur dimensions was conducted to determine the average femur length, vertical, and transverse diameter of head, position of nutrient foramina and neck shaft angle of femur. All the measurements were made with assistance of osteometric board, digital vernier caliper and goniometer. Result: A total of 60 human femora were analyzed for side, length, head dimensions, shape of the fovea capitis, number of nutrient foramina, and neck shaft angle. The length of the femora ranged between 35.5 cm and 46.0 cm. Most bones measured between 40–45 cm, with the majority clustering around 42–44 cm, suggesting a relatively consistent length across the sample. The vertical head dimension varied between 34.3 mm and 46.3 mm, while the horizontal head dimension ranged from 35.2 mm to 46.2 mm. Conclusion: The current study offers comprehensive morphometric information on the neck shaft angle, head measurements, and femoral length in dry femora. The neck shaft angle showed the most fluctuation, although all other metrics showed a normal distribution. Keywords: Femur, Neck shaft angle, Nutrient foramen, Fovea