Abstract: Background: The humerus is the both the largest bone in the arm and the only bone in the upper arm. Many powerful muscles that manipulate the upper arm at the shoulder and the forearm at the elbow are anchored to the humerus. Movement of the humerus is essential to all of the varied activities of the arm, such as throwing, lifting, and writing. A humerus fracture is a break of the humerus bone in the upper arm. Fractures of the humerus may be classified by the location into proximal region, which is near the shoulder, the middle region, and the distal region, which is near the elbow. These locations can further be divided based on the extent of the fracture and the specific areas of each of the three regions affected. For better understanding the humerus facture the segmental morphometry is important.
Materials and Methods: The materials for the present study included 200 adult dry humeruses of unknown sex and obtained from various medical colleges from Karnataka. The morphometric details of different humerus segments viz. Maximum length of humerus, Mean distances between the articular segment of the humeral head and the greater tuberosity of humerus, Mean distance between caput humerus and callum of humerus, Mean distance between proximal and distal point of olecrane of humerus, Mean distance between distal part of olecrane process and trochlea of humerus, Mean distance between proximal edge of olacrane fossa and proximal part of trochea of humerus were carried out using Vernier callipers.
Results: The results were, maximum length of humerus was 302.8±25.6mm on right and left was 296.75±19.6mm, the mean distances between the articular segment of the humeral head and the greater tuberosity was 6.7±1.5mm on right and 7.5±1.6mm on left, between caput humerus and callum anatomicum was 40.8±7.8mm on right and 40.3±8.2mm on left, between proximal and distal point of olecrane fossa was 39.6±2.3mm on right and 41.1±2.9mm on left, between distal part of olecrane process and trochlea of humerus was 22.6±1.3mm on right and 21.7±1.8mm on left and between proximal edge of olacrane fossa and proximal part of trochlea of humerus was 24.12±2.3mm on right and 26.92±2.2mm on left.
Conclusion: The present study findings helps in orthopaedic surgery practice, for the treatment of proximal and distal humerus fractures and for their reconstruction.
