{"title":"The Association of Tibia:Femur Ratio and Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury.","authors":"Jonathan McKeeman, Ryan DeLeon, Daniel Heckman","doi":"10.1177/23259671251343811","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The tibia:femur ratio (TFR) is an anatomic proportion describing the length of the tibia relative to the femur, with an established normative mean of 0.78 in skeletally mature individuals. Variation in TFR affects lower extremity biomechanics, and there is an association between elevated TFR and hip/knee osteoarthritis and patellar instability.</p><p><strong>Hypothesis: </strong>TFR variation may also be associated with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury; thus, the purpose of this study is to determine if the mean TFR in patients with ACL injury is different from the mean normative TFR in the general population.</p><p><strong>Study design: </strong>Cross-sectional study; Level of evidence, 3.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A total of 50 patients with magnetic resonance imaging-confirmed ACL injury underwent full-length lower extremity scanograms. Femoral length was measured from the most superior point of the femoral head to the center point of the medial femoral condyle. Tibial length was measured from the center point of the medial tibial plateau to the center point of the tibial plafond. The TFR was calculated by dividing the tibial length by the femoral length. The mean TFR of the study group was compared with the previously published mean TFR for normative controls with a 2-tailed <i>t</i> test.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The mean TFR for the entire cohort of patients with ACL injury was 0.759 (SD, 0.029), which was significantly lower than the mean normative TFR of 0.781 (<i>P</i> = .0001). There were 29 (58.0%) male and 21 (42.0%) female patients. The mean TFR was similar for male (0.760) and female (0.757) patients (<i>P</i> = .77).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Patients with ACL injury demonstrated a significantly lower TFR than the previously published TFR for normative controls, which suggests that an association between TFR and ACL injury may exist. It is possible that decreasing tibial length relative to femoral length alters lower extremity biomechanics in such a manner that places the ACL at risk for injury.</p>","PeriodicalId":19646,"journal":{"name":"Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine","volume":"13 6","pages":"23259671251343811"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12179483/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/23259671251343811","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/6/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ORTHOPEDICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: The tibia:femur ratio (TFR) is an anatomic proportion describing the length of the tibia relative to the femur, with an established normative mean of 0.78 in skeletally mature individuals. Variation in TFR affects lower extremity biomechanics, and there is an association between elevated TFR and hip/knee osteoarthritis and patellar instability.
Hypothesis: TFR variation may also be associated with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury; thus, the purpose of this study is to determine if the mean TFR in patients with ACL injury is different from the mean normative TFR in the general population.
Study design: Cross-sectional study; Level of evidence, 3.
Methods: A total of 50 patients with magnetic resonance imaging-confirmed ACL injury underwent full-length lower extremity scanograms. Femoral length was measured from the most superior point of the femoral head to the center point of the medial femoral condyle. Tibial length was measured from the center point of the medial tibial plateau to the center point of the tibial plafond. The TFR was calculated by dividing the tibial length by the femoral length. The mean TFR of the study group was compared with the previously published mean TFR for normative controls with a 2-tailed t test.
Results: The mean TFR for the entire cohort of patients with ACL injury was 0.759 (SD, 0.029), which was significantly lower than the mean normative TFR of 0.781 (P = .0001). There were 29 (58.0%) male and 21 (42.0%) female patients. The mean TFR was similar for male (0.760) and female (0.757) patients (P = .77).
Conclusion: Patients with ACL injury demonstrated a significantly lower TFR than the previously published TFR for normative controls, which suggests that an association between TFR and ACL injury may exist. It is possible that decreasing tibial length relative to femoral length alters lower extremity biomechanics in such a manner that places the ACL at risk for injury.
期刊介绍:
The Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine (OJSM), developed by the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM), is a global, peer-reviewed, open access journal that combines the interests of researchers and clinical practitioners across orthopaedic sports medicine, arthroscopy, and knee arthroplasty.
Topics include original research in the areas of:
-Orthopaedic Sports Medicine, including surgical and nonsurgical treatment of orthopaedic sports injuries
-Arthroscopic Surgery (Shoulder/Elbow/Wrist/Hip/Knee/Ankle/Foot)
-Relevant translational research
-Sports traumatology/epidemiology
-Knee and shoulder arthroplasty
The OJSM also publishes relevant systematic reviews and meta-analyses.
This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).