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The neck of the femur is a common site of fracture in the elderly, often resulting from a fall; the fracture is often called a ‘broken hip’. This is more common in females, due to the greater thinning of bones with advancing years (osteoporosis) in women than in men. There is evidence to suggest that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) after the menopause can slow the rate of bone loss. Treatment of a fractured neck of femur is usually by total hip joint replacement, as bone healing becomes poorer with advancing age and osteoporotic bone poorly supports metallic implants. The pelvis is wider in females than males because of the need to permit childbirth, and this results in the femoral heads being further apart. Consequently the thighs tend to be more sharply inclined inwards at the knees (valgus).
William R. Ferrell
See also joints; osteoporosis; skeleton.
hip
hip1 / hip/ • n. 1. a projection of the pelvis and upper thigh bone on each side of the body in human beings and quadrupeds. ∎ (hips) the circumference of the body at the buttocks: a sweater tied around the hips. ∎ a person's hip joint: she ran into a fence and dislocated her hip.2. the sharp edge of a roof from the ridge to the eaves where two sides meet.PHRASES: on the hip archaic at a disadvantage.hip2 (also rose hip) • n. the fruit of a rose, esp. a wild kind.hip3 • adj. (hip·per, hip·pest) inf. following the latest fashion, esp. in popular music and clothes: it's becoming hip to be environmentally conscious. ∎ understanding; aware: he's trying to show how hip he is to Americana.DERIVATIVES: hip·ly adv.hip·ness n.hip4 • interj. introducing a communal cheer: hip, hip, hooray!
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smite hip and thigh punish unsparingly, originally with biblical allusion to Judges 15:8 of Samson and the Philistines.
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• Accounting human information processing