External force and strain distribution in human femur.

In this paper, a system of external force in the human femur is evaluated by using the methods proposed previously by Chanley, and others. The results are applied to analyze the strain distributions in the human femur. In the analysis the beam theory and the three-dimensional finite element method are used. The obtained axial value reaches the maximum value at the diaphysis of the human femur. On the other hand, the strain values obtained by the beam theory agree approximately with the values by the finite-element method expect for the values of the parts of the caput femoris and the fossa intercondylaris. From these results, the applicability of the beam theory to the strain analysis of the human femur is dicussed.