Normative data on femoral version

Abstract

Femoral version is reported to vary in relation to age, gender and other patient-specific factors. Differences in femoral version are suspected to contribute to the development of hip pathology. However, normative data on pathologic hips has never been reported. To evaluate the femoral version in a large population of patients with symptomatic hip pathology treated with arthroscopy and report differences within this group based on age, gender, bony morphology and other hip-related factors. A prospectively gathered database of 1449 hips was reviewed. All patients underwent pre-operative MRI with measure of femoral version. The average femoral version of the entire population was 8.4+ 9.2 degrees , range -23 to 63. There no statistically significant differences encountered based on age, gender, bony morphology or other hip-related factors. Across all groups, there was wide variation in the femoral version present. Among younger patients, there was trend to have a greater proportion of retroversion. Significant variation in femoral version exists in patients with symptomatic hip pathology. Although the geometry of the proximal femur is commonly described as anteverted, relative retroversion is also frequently encountered.