Morphometric study of tibia in north Indian population and its clinical relevance

Introduction: Anthropometry refers to the measurement of the human individual or a part there of. Anthropometry measurements are very useful to estimate stature and bone length from the skeletal remains from anthropological remnant skeletons. Considering the fact that human tibia is a complex anatomic unit and its knowledge of the morphometric values is important in Forensic, Anatomic and Archeological cases in order to identify unknown bodies and stature, the present anthropometric study was undertaken. Methodology: In this study, 50 (27 right and 23 left) intact human adult tibia were obtained from the bone bank of Department of Anatomy, Government Medical College Srinagar. In the study, a total of 07 parametric variables were obtained from the shaft of the Tibia according to standard anthropometrical method. Results: The mean of cross sectional index for right tibias was 78.83± 7.35. Similarly mean of cross sectional index for left tibias was 80.01± 8.54. On applying statistical analysis (t test), it came out to be 0.015p (<0.05) which is statistically significant. The mean of Cnemicus Index for Right tibias was 68.16 ± 5.23 and for left side these values came out to be 68.02 ±7.48. These are not statistically significant. The mean of Length - Thickness Index were 31.95 ± 2.12 and 31.34 ± 2.08 for right and left Tibias respectively. This too was not significant statistically.