Stress variations owing to single-stance load and sideways fall result in fracture at proximal femur

Abstract

Femoral neck region is the weakest in which the fracture takes place when someone falls sideways. The sideways fall develops peak tensile and compressive stresses in the inferior and superior surfaces of the femoral neck, whereas the state of stress is reversed for a single-stance loading. Therefore, a CT based finite element analysis can be an effective tool for determining the state of stresses at the femoral neck region to predict the probability of fracture considering the 3D complex geometry of femur, its material properties and load conditions. The present work aims to represent the mechanism of hip fracture at the femoral neck region due to sideways fall, which results in greater tensile and compressive stresses at the femoral neck.