This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Acetabulum is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
| Bone: Acetabulum of pelvis | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Pelvic girdle | |
 |
|
| The Acetabulum | |
| Gray's | subject #57 237 |
| MeSH | Acetabulum |
The acetabulum is a concave surface of the pelvis. The head of the femur meets with the pelvis at the acetabulum, forming the hip joint.
Contents |
Structure
There are three bones of the os coxae (hip bone) that come together to form the acetabulum. Contributing a little more than two-fifths of the structure is the ischium, which provides lower and side boundaries to the acetabulum. The ilium forms the upper boundary, providing a little less than two-fifths of the structure of the acetabulum. The rest is formed by the pubis, near the midline.
It is bounded by a prominent uneven rim, which is thick and strong above, and serves for the attachment of the acetabular labrum, which reduces its opening, and deepens the surface for formation of the hip joint. At the lower part of the acetabulum is the acetabular notch, which is continuous with a circular depression, the acetabular fossa, at the bottom of the cavity of the acetabulum. The rest of the acetabulum is formed by a curved, crescent-moon shaped surface, the lunate surface, where the joint is made with the head of the femur. Its counterpart in the pectoral girdle is the glenoid fossa.
In reptiles and in birds, the acetabula are deep sockets.
Etymology
The word acetabulum means "little vinegar cup", and was the Latin word for a small vessel for storing vinegar (see acetabulum). The word was later also used as a unit of volume, equal to roughly 270 ml.
Additional images
 Right hip bone. External surface. |
 Plan of ossification of the hip bone. |
 Symphysis pubis exposed by a coronal section. |
 Left hip-joint, opened by removing the floor of the acetabulum from within the pelvis. |
 Hip-joint, front view. |
 Capsule of hip-joint (distended). Posterior aspect. |
 Structures surrounding right hip-joint. |
External links
- SUNY Labs 17:01-0501 - "Major Joints of the Lower Extremity: Hip joint"
- SUNY Labs 43:os-0407 - "The Female Pelvis: Articulated bones of pelvis"
This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.
|
|||||||||||||||||
 |
This musculoskeletal system article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 22 September 2008, at 02:36.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Acetabulum".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.