RESUMEN
This study had the purpose of enlarging the data on the Brazilian people, providing anatomic fundamentals that allow a better comprehension of clinical and pathological states involving the hip joint. Sixty-six human femurs, 33 right and 33 left, were used, coming from the Laboratory of Human Anatomy of the Universidade Paranaense ¡ UNIPAR. All the bones had adult characteristics, but no sex, race or age identifications. None of them presented visible abnormalities or signs of arthrosis. The following morphometric measures were made: angle of the femur neck, circumference of the femur head and neck, length of the femur neck and of the whole bone. The comparative analysis of the angle of the femur neck between the right and left sides of adults demonstrated values similar to those described in the classic literature for adults with mean significantly smaller on the right side (122.5°) than on the left side (125.6°). As for the length of the femur neck in our study we observed larger values on the left side (23.5 mm) than on the right side (22.3 mm). These data demonstrate the asymmetry of the bones of Brazilians, with greater angle and neck on the left side than on the right side, agreeing with authors that state that the left inferior limb is dominant relative to the left. For the other measures of the femur, circumference of the head and neck, differences were not observed between the right and left sides. We suggest that other studies should be carried out to enlarge the scarce literature concerning the normal measures of Brazilians.