ANATOMY OF FEMUR

SYARIFAH NAZIRA
1610211050
 FEMUR
The femur(Figs 158 and 159)
• The largest bone in the body.
• The femur, or thigh bone, is the longest, heaviest, and strongest bone
in the body (Figure 8.11). Its proximal end articulates with the
acetabulum of the hip bone. Its distal end articulates with the tibia and
patella (TORTORA).
• It is 18 inc (45 cm) in length.
• It is covered with cartilage except for its central fovea where the
ligamentum teres is attached.
• The neck 2 inc (5 cm) long and is set at an angle of 125° to the shaft. In
the female, with her wider pelvis, the angle is smaller.
• This angle of the femoral shaft (angle of convergence) is greater in
females because the female pelvis is broader. (TORTORA)

Clinical anatomy 11ed_by_Harrold Ellis

• The neck of the femur is a constricted region distal to the head. A “broken hip” is
more often associated with a fracture in the neck of the femur than with
fractures of the hip bones.
• The junction between the neck and the shaft is marked anteriorly by the
trochanteric line, laterally by the greater trochanter, medially by the lesser
trochanter and posteriorly by the prominent trochanteric crest, which unites the
two trochanters.
• The greater trochanter and lesser trochanter are projections from the junction of
the neck and shaft that serve as points of attachment for the tendons of some of
the thigh and buttock muscles. (TORTORA)
• The greater trochanter is the prominence felt and seen anterior to the hollow on
the side of the hip.
• It is a landmark commonly used to locate the site for intramuscular injections into
the lateral surface of the thigh.

Clinical anatomy 11ed_by_Harrold Ellis

• The lesser trochanter is inferior and medial to the greater trochanter.
• Between the anterior surfaces of the trochanters is a narrow intertrochanteric line.
• A ridge called the intertrochanteric crest appears between the posterior surfaces of
the trochanters.
• Inferior to the intertrochanteric crest on the posterior surface of the femur is a
vertical ridge called the gluteal tuberosity.
• It blends into another vertical ridge called the linea aspera.Both ridges serve as
attachment points for the tendons of several thigh muscles.

Tortora Principles of Anatomy and Physiology 14e

Clinical anatomy 11ed_by_Harrold Ellis
Clinical anatomy 11ed_by_Harrold Ellis
Tortora Principles of Anatomy and Physiology 14e
• The blood supply to the femoral head is derived from vessels
travellingup from the diaphysis along the cancellous bone, from
vessels in the hip capsule, where this is reflected on to the neck in
longitudinal bands or retinacula, and from the artery in the
ligamentum teres; this third source is negligible in adults, but
essential in children, when the femoral head is separated from the
neck by the cartilage of the epiphyseal line (Fig. 160).

Clinical anatomy 11ed_by_Harrold Ellis

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Clinical anatomy 11ed_by_Harrold Ellis

Tortora Principles of Anatomy and Physiology 14e
Clinical anatomy 11ed_by_Harrold Ellis
• The upper end of the femur is a common site for fracture in the
elderly.
• Fractures of the femoral neck will interrupt completely the blood
supply from the diaphysis  the retinacula also be torn, avascular
necrosis of the head.
• The nearer the fracture to the femoral head, the more tenuous the
retinacular blood supply and the more likely it is to be disrupted.

Clinical anatomy 11ed_by_Harrold Ellis