The Femur is the thighbone. It connects to the pelvis and the knee at the upper end and forms a hinge with the lower leg.
It’s the strongest bone in the body and the longest bone in the body. It is found only in the hindlimbs of most land mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians.
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Femur Facts for Kids
- The Femur is the longest bone of the body
- It’s located between your knee and hip
- It’s a weight-bearing bone
- We can move our legs with it
- We can also stand, walk, and run with it.
The human body
The human body has 206 bones. They make up the human skeleton. Axial skeletons and appendicular skeletons are the two major types of bones.
There are 80 bones in the axial skeleton and 126 in the appendicular skeleton. The Femur is the longest, largest, and hardest bone in the human body.
What is unique about the Femur?
The body’s longest bone
It is the longest of all the long bones (which includes the tibia, fibula, metatarsals, and phalanges in the lower limb and the Humerus, radius, ulna, metacarpals, and phalanges in the upper limb)
Why Femur is the strongest bone?
It supports the lower leg during various activities because the muscles are strong, making the Femur the biggest bone in the body and the strongest and longest bone.
Hence, muscle and bone strength depend on the health of the body, of course.
As the Femur and tibia join, the hip and thigh muscles are used a great deal while lifting the limb.
A skeleton can show the same thing. The body tries to put in while running, jumping, and doing any exercise.
One can determine the age and sex of a person by examining the Femur through a skeleton. The Humerus is a strong bone.
There are several other bones that protect our different body parts, and the cranium is one of them. It is the bony skull that surrounds our brain, protecting it from injuries.
The clavicle is the weakest bone.
What is a femur made of?
The femoral head is located near the heart (proximal end). The ball part of a ball-and-socket hip joint.
The neck and greater trochanter are below the head of the Femur. Various tendons connect the greater trochanter to the gluteus minimus and gluteus medius muscles. Walking and running are assisted by these muscles.
At the base of the neck of the Femur, below the greater trochanter, is the lesser trochanter. A lesser trochanter, part of the Femur connected to muscles, helps flex the thigh for lifting it forward.
The gluteal tuberosity is below the lesser trochanter, where the gluteus maximus is attached.
The femur body is the main shaft. A femur’s distal end (furthest from the heart) connects with the patella (knee cap) and the bones of the lower leg (tibia and fibula).
The Femur has a saddle that rests on the tibia. Each knee joint has rounded edges known as condyles. Between the condyles is a depression called the patellar groove.
