Previous Page
ANATOMY REFRESHER Hip The
Continuing with our anatomy refresher series, here is the hip joint brought to life!
Written by Dr Simon Kay, GP and sports physician - adapted from an article which appeared in sportEX medicine magazine
Introduction The hip, mostly due to its stability is a rarely injured joint, at least acutely. With the recognition of femoro-acetabular impingement and of injuries to the sacro- iliac joint and surrounding muscles, the situation changes. The function of the hip is to allow
support of the trunk on the limbs, particularly during locomotion. However a whole range of movements including standing, walking, running, jumping and kicking all involve the hip, to greater or lesser degrees depending on the amount of time that the hip bears all or multiples of bodyweight. For example whilst standing the hips will transmit approximately half the body-weight,
Sacrum Ilium
Acetabulum
Neck of the femur
Femur Ischium
Sacroiliac joint
Femero- acetabular joint
however during running, hurdling or jumping, the weight through the hip may be 400-500% of body weight. The transmission of huge weights, and
the transfer of power to the leg through muscles from trunk to leg, means that if the hip wasn’t inherently stable, then disruption of the joint would occur far more often.
LEARNING EXERCISE n (kinaesthetic): Look at the joint facets on an anatomical model of the human skeleton, to see how the faces lock under vertical downward pressure. N.B. the anatomical position is with the rim of the pelvis tilted approximately 30o
to the vertical and the femur slightly tilted anteriorly.
Bones and joints The hip i.e. the femoro-acetabular joint is one of six joints that make up the hip girdle. The hip girdle consists of: 2 x femoro-acetabular (FA) joints. 2 x sacro-iliac joints (SIJ). 1 x pubic symphysis. 1 x lumbar-sacral junction. The FA joints, although very stable
due to the high proportion of femoral head covered by the acetabulum, are further stabilised by a labrum of thick connective tissue, acting to further deepen the acetabulum (figs.1-2). The neutral position of the hip is with the neck of the femur projected slightly posteriorly and laterally from the acetabulum.
Ligaments Whilst standing, the head of the femur is held tightly into the acetabulum by three key ligaments (fig.3):
©2013 Primal Pictures
Ischiofemoral ligament
Iliofemoral ligament
Pubofemoral ligament
Pubis
Figure 1: The bones of the hip (anterior view)
Pubic symphysis joint
Figure 2: The joints of the hip (anterior view)
Figure 3: Key ligaments providing stability to the hip joint (anterior view)
19
©2013 Primal Pictures
©2013 Primal Pictures