Femur

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Description:

The femur is the largest and longest bone of the body. Its shaft forms a long cylindrical tube with a slight forward bow. It contains thick walls of compact bone surrounding a hollow medullary cavity. The strong wall is thickest near the narrow center of the shaft where the medullary cavity is also most spacious. As the shaft becomes progressively wider toward each end, the compact wall of bone becomes thinner and the medullary cavity accumulates spongy bone. The proximal end consists of a short, cantilevered neck capped by a smooth, round articular head. Rounded projections of bone, the trochanters, form at the base of the cantilevered neck. The distal end, consisting of two large, knuckle-like processes that are separated by an intermediate groove, is larger than the proximal end. In the standing position the femoral shaft angles obliquely from lateral to medial.