Hip fracture and anthropometric variations: Dominance among trochanteric soft tissue thickness, body height and body weight during sideways fall

BackgroundHip fracture depends on various anthropometric parameters such as trochanteric soft tissue thickness, body height and body weight. The objective was to evaluate the responses to the variations in anthropometric parameters during sideways fall, and to identify the most dominant parameter among them.MethodSeven finite element models were developed having anthropometric variations in trochanteric soft tissue thickness (5-26 mm), body height (1.70-1.88 m), and body weight (63-93.37 kg). These were simulated for sideways fall with ANSYS-LS-DYNA® code.FindingsSignificant effect of trochanteric soft tissue thickness variation was found on 'normalized peak impact force with respect to the body weight' (p = 0.004, r2 = 0.808) and strain ratio (p = 0.083, r2 = 0.829). But, variation in body height was found to be less significant on normalized peak impact force (p = 0.478, r2 = 0.105) and strain ratio (p = 0.292, r2 = 0.217). Same was true for the variation in body weight on normalized peak impact force (p = 0.075, r2 = 0.456) and strain ratio (p = 0.857, r2 = 0.007). The risk factor for fracture was also well correlated to the strain ratio for the inter-trochanteric zone (p < 0.0007, r2 = 0.917) where the most fractures are clinically observed to happen.InterpretationsTrochanteric soft tissue thickness was found likely to be the most dominant parameter over body height and body weight, signifying that a slimmer elderly person, taller or shorter, with less trochanteric soft tissue thickness should be advised to take preventive measures against hip fracture under sideways fall.