Anatomy study note · Lower limb

Femur

The thigh bone, the longest bone in the body. It articulates above with the acetabulum (hip joint) and below with the tibia and patella (knee joint).

Key points

• Neck–shaft angle ~125° (child ~160°).
• Head blood: medial circumflex femoral (retinacular) + artery of the ligament of the head.
• Subcapital neck fracture → avascular necrosis; leg short + laterally rotated.
• Linea aspera behind; adductor tubercle on the medial condyle.
• Distal-third fracture → popliteal artery at risk (gastrocnemius pull).
• Shaft: primary centre; ends: secondary centres; growth at the epiphyseal plate.
• Limb bones: limb-bud mesenchyme, endochondral (except clavicle).
• Long bone: endochondral ossification; epiphyseal plate closes ~20 y.
• Bone: type I collagen + hydroxyapatite.

The full note in the atlas also covers

Features · Blood supply · Histology · Development · Clinical notes

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Written from

• Snell’s Clinical Anatomy by Regions, 10th ed., ch. 11, PDF pp. 1250–1256, 1391–1396
• Inderbir Singh’s Human Embryology, ch. 7, PDF pp. 98, 102–104; ch. 10, PDF pp. 141, 145
• BRS Cell Biology & Histology, 7th ed., ch. 7, PDF pp. 121–125, 126–129, 130

More from the lower limb

• Fibula
• Fibularis brevis
• Fibularis longus
• Fibularis tertius
• Flexor digitorum longus
• Flexor hallucis longus
• Gastrocnemius
• Gluteal nerves
• Gluteus maximus
• Gluteus medius
• Gluteus minimus
• Gracilis

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