THE FEMUR 147 



THE FEMUR 



This bone is the largest and longest in the skeleton. The upper extremity is 

 surmounted by a hemispherical cartilage-covered articular portion called the head, 

 which is directed upwanls and inwards, to be received in the acetabulum of the hi[)- 

 bone. A little below and behind the centre of the head is a small rough depression 

 to which the ligamentum teres is attached. The head is connected to the shaft by 

 the neck, a stout rectangular process of bone wdiich forms with the femoral shaft, 

 in the adult, an angle of 125°. Its anterior surface is in the same plane with the 

 front aspect of the shaft, but it is marked off from it by a ridge to which the capsule 

 of the hip-joint is attached. This ridge commences at the greater trochanter in a 

 small prominence, the superior cervical tubercle, and extends obliquely down- 

 wards to the inferior cervical tubercle, and, winding to the back of the femur, 

 becomes continuous with the inner lip of the linea aspera. The whole of this 

 ridge is called the spiral line, l)ut the part between the cervical tubercles is often 

 called the anterior intertrochanteric line. The superior and inferior tubercles 

 receive the limbs of the ilio-femoral thickening in the capsule of the hip-joint. 

 The posterior surface of the neck is smooth and concave, its inner two- thirds is 

 enclosed in the capsule of the hip-joint. The superior surface is narrow, and pitted 

 with nutrient foramina; it runs downwards to the greater trochanter. The inferior 

 surface, concave in outline, terminates at the lesser trochanter. 



The trochanters are prominences which afford attachment to muscles wliich 

 rotate the thigh; they are two in number, the greater and the lesser. 



The greater trochanter is quadrilateral, and surmounts the junction of the 

 neck with the shaft. Of its two surfaces, the external is the broader; it is bisected 

 diagonally by a ridge running from the posterior superior to the anterior inferior 

 angle. The gluteus mecUus is inserted into this ridge; a bursa occasionally is inter- 

 posed between the tendon and the bone. The inner surface presents a deep pit, the 

 trochanteric fossa, which receives the tendon of the obturator externus. The upper 

 border, called the tip, gives attachment from before backwards to the tendons of 

 the obturator internus with the gemelli, and the pyriformis. The anterior border 

 receives the gluteus minimus. The posterior border is thick, rounded, and contin- 

 uous with the posterior intertrochanteric line, which runs downwards to termi- 

 nate at the lesser trochanter, a conical prominence on the posterior aspect of the 

 femur to which the psoas is inserted. Running downwards from the lesser tro- 

 chanter to meet the spiral line is a slender ridge, to which the iliacus is inserted. 

 The surface of bone slightly posterior to this ridge is occupied by the pectineus. 

 This part of the femur presents several converging ridges, which Avill be most con- 

 veniently considered with the linea aspera. 



Tlie shaft of the femur is cylindrical in shape, and presents, in the middle 

 third of its posterior aspect, a prominent vertical ridge of bone, the linea aspera, 

 for the origin and insertion of muscles. In the middle of the shaft the linea aspera 

 presents an inner lip, an outer lip, and an intervening space. , Towards the ujiper 

 third of tlie shaft these three parts diverge: the outer lip becomes continuous with 

 the gluteal ridge, and ends at the base of the greater trochanter. When very 

 prominent the gluteal ridge is termed the third trochanter. It affords attachment 

 to the gluteus rnaximus. The inner lip curves inwards below the lesser trochanter, 

 and becomes the spiral line. The middle portion of the linea aspera bifurcates, 

 the inner portion as it runs on to the lesser trochanter receives the iliacus ; the outer 

 passes upwards to the centre of the posterior intertrochanteric line; it receives 

 the quadratus femori!<, and is called the linea quadrati. The upper limit of this 

 line is often indicated by a rounded tubercle wliich j^rojects on the posterior inter- 

 trochanteric line. Towards the lower third of the shaft, the inner and outer lips of 

 the linea aspera diverge to become continuous with the condylar ridges. Several 

 muscles are connected with the linea aspera. The vastus interims arises from the 

 whole length of the inner lip, and the vastus externus from the outer lip. The 

 adductor magnus is inserted into the upper half of the outer lip, and the lower half 



