Women and men with hip fractures have a longer femoral neck moment arm and greater impact load in a sideways fall

Abstract

Introduction: In a case control study, we report that women and men with hip fractures have a longer moment arm of the force applied on the proximal femur during a sideways fall, a structural feature that may contribute to fracture risk. The impact load and its direction during a sideways fall onto the greater trochanter are partly determined by the geometry of the proximal femur. We hypothesized that the hip geometry in elderly with hip fractures produces a greater impact on the hip during a sideways fall. Methods: We studied 41 female (77.2±9.9 years) and 22 male (76.2±12.1 years) patients with hip fractures and 40 female (85.7±6.0 years) and 17 male (84.3±10.1 years) controls. Hip geometr..