Abstract

Introduction: The talus is one of the seven tarsal bones. It is responsible for receiving the body weight and transmitting it to the plantar arch below. The architecture of cancellous bone is based on its mechanical demands. The trabecular patterns of a bone are formed by the stress trajectories that are placed on that bone. The preferred directional orientation of the trabeculae thus provides a history of the stresses to which the bone has been subjected. Aim: To study the internal architecture and pressure lines of human tali. Materials and Methods: 30 tali were dissected out from the formalin fixed lower limbs available at the Department of Anatomy of KVG Medical College, Sullia and they were dried and serial longitudinal (parasagittal), transverse (coronal) and horizontal sections of the bone were made in 10 each. The coronal sections were made at 3 levels i.e at the body, neck and head. A good quality digital photograph of the cut surfaces were taken using a digital camera for analysis of the trabeculae of cancellous bone. Radiographs of the slices were also taken to study the pressure and the tension lines. Results: The sections showed an outer thin layer of compact bone, but it was much thicker at the neck of the talus. In the head, the cancellous bone was made of thick, parallel running semi-arched plates which consisted of two limbs i.e vertical and horizontal which were continuous with each other Conclusion: It can be concluded that the part of compressive force, acting vertically downward on the body of the talus during standing, was converted to tensile force in the neck, and its direction was made perpendicular, to enable this force to go toward the head of the talus. These findings may help in better understanding of fracture lines in the talus, which could improve internal fixation techniques, and help in designing of talar prosthesis.

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