The femoral neck (also femur neck or neck of the femur) is a flattened pyramidal process of

bone A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, ...

, connecting the

femoral head The femoral head (femur head or head of the femur) is the highest part of the thigh bone (femur The femur (; : femurs or femora ), or thigh bone is the only long bone, bone in the thigh — the region of the lower limb between the hip and the ...

with the femoral shaft, and forming with the latter a wide angle opening medialward.

Structure

The neck is flattened from before backward, contracted in the middle, and broader laterally than medially. The vertical diameter of the lateral half is increased by the obliquity of the lower edge, which slopes downward to join the body at the level of the

lesser trochanter In human anatomy, the lesser trochanter is a conical, posteromedial, bony projection from the shaft of the femur. It serves as the principal insertion site of the iliopsoas muscle. Structure The lesser trochanter is a conical posteromedial p ...

, so that it measures one-third more than the antero-posterior diameter. The medial half is smaller and of a more circular shape. The anterior surface of the neck is perforated by numerous vascular

foramina In anatomy and osteology, a foramen (; : foramina, or foramens ; ) is an opening or enclosed gap within the dense connective tissue (bones and deep fasciae) of extant and extinct amniote animals, typically to allow passage of nerves, arter ...

. Along the upper part of the line of junction of the anterior surface with the head is a shallow groove, best marked in

elderly Old age is the range of ages for people nearing and surpassing life expectancy. People who are of old age are also referred to as: old people, elderly, elders, senior citizens, seniors or older adults. Old age is not a definite biological sta ...

subjects; this groove lodges the orbicular fibers of the capsule of the

hip joint In vertebrate anatomy, the hip, or coxaLatin ''coxa'' was used by Celsus in the sense "hip", but by Pliny the Elder in the sense "hip bone" (Diab, p 77) (: ''coxae'') in medical terminology, refers to either an anatomical region or a joint o ...

. The posterior surface is smooth, and is broader and more concave than the anterior: the posterior part of the capsule of the hip-joint is attached to it about 1 cm above the intertrochanteric crest. The superior border is short and thick, and ends laterally at the greater trochanter; its surface is perforated by large foramina. The inferior border, long and narrow, curves a little backward, to end at the lesser trochanter.

Angle of inclination

The angle is widest in infancy, and becomes lessened during growth, so that at

puberty Puberty is the process of physical changes through which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction. It is initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads: the ovaries in a female, the testicles i ...

it forms a gentle curve from the axis of the body of the bone. In the adult, the neck forms an angle of about 125° with the body, but this varies in inverse proportion to the development of the

pelvis The pelvis (: pelves or pelvises) is the lower part of an Anatomy, anatomical Trunk (anatomy), trunk, between the human abdomen, abdomen and the thighs (sometimes also called pelvic region), together with its embedded skeleton (sometimes also c ...

and the stature. The angle decreases during the period of growth, but after full growth has been attained it does not usually undergo any change, even in old age; it varies considerably in different persons of the same age. Coxa vara is a

deformity A deformity, dysmorphism, or dysmorphic feature is a major abnormality of an organism that makes a part of the body appear or function differently than how it is supposed to. Causes Deformity can be caused by a variety of factors: *Arthritis a ...

of the hip, whereby the angle between the head and the shaft of the

femur The femur (; : femurs or femora ), or thigh bone is the only long bone, bone in the thigh — the region of the lower limb between the hip and the knee. In many quadrupeds, four-legged animals the femur is the upper bone of the hindleg. The Femo ...

is reduced to less than 120 degrees. Its opposite is coxa valga. FemurAngles

In the

female An organism's sex is female ( symbol: ♀) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females and ...

, in consequence of the increased width of the pelvis, the neck of the femur forms more nearly a right angle with the body than it does in the

male Male (Planet symbols, symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or Egg cell, ovum, in the process of fertilisation. A male organism cannot sexual repro ...

. It is smaller in short than in long bones, and when the pelvis is wide. In addition to projecting upward and medialward from the body of the femur, the neck also projects somewhat forward; the amount of this forward projection is extremely variable, but on an average is from 12° to 14°.

Fracture

$Hip fracture classification$ A fracture of the femoral neck is classified as a type of

hip fracture A hip fracture is a break that occurs in the upper part of the femur (thigh bone), at the femoral neck or (rarely) the femoral head. Symptoms may include pain around the hip, particularly with movement, and shortening of the leg. Usually ...

. It is often due to

osteoporosis Osteoporosis is a systemic skeletal disorder characterized by low bone mass, micro-architectural deterioration of bone tissue leading to more porous bone, and consequent increase in Bone fracture, fracture risk. It is the most common reason f ...

; in the vast majority of cases, a hip fracture is a fragility fracture due to a fall or minor trauma in someone with weakened osteoporotic bone. Most hip fractures in people with normal bone are the result of high-energy trauma such as

car accident A traffic collision, also known as a motor vehicle collision, or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other moving or stationary obstruction, such as a tree, pole or building. T ...

s, falling from heights, or sports injuries. For low-grade fractures (Garden types 1 and 2), standard treatment is fixation of the fracture in situ with screws or a sliding screw/plate device. In elderly patients with displaced or intracapsular fractures many surgeons prefer to undertake a

hemiarthroplasty Hip replacement is a surgical procedure in which the hip joint is replaced by a prosthetic implant, that is, a hip prosthesis. Hip replacement surgery can be performed as a total replacement or a hemi/semi(half) replacement. Such joint repla ...

, replacing the broken part of the bone with a metal implant. In elderly patients who are medically well and still active, a total hip replacement may be indicated.

Additional images

File:Slide2DAD.JPG, Hip joint. Lateral view. Femoral neck File:Slide16DEN.JPG, Femoral neck. Posterior view.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Bones of the lower limb Femur