Femoral anteversion in normal adults

Abstract

The femoral anteversion (AV) angles were measured by ultrasound in a normal group of 100 adult subjects to find the normal range of anteversion, to determine the normal left/right difference, to assess the inter-observer variation, and to find the correlation between AV angle and clinical hip rotation. All the ultrasound measurements were performed independently by 2 observers. The mean AV angle was 18°n the women and 14° in the men. The mean left/right difference in AV was 3.8° and the upper normal limit of side difference (mean + 2 SD) was 9.8° The mean (SD) interobserver variation was only 1.9°(1.3°). The correlations between AV angles and internal and external hip rotation were significant, but not very high (r = 0.49 and -0.49, respectively). We conclude that ultrasound is appropriate for measurement of femoral anteversion. Our results could be used as a basis when evaluating patients with clinically suspected rotational disorders of the femur.