Sacrotuberous ligament

Ligament: Sacrotuberous ligament
Articulations of pelvis. Posterior view.
Nélaton’s line and Bryant’s triangle.
Latin	ligamentum sacrotuberale
Gray's	subject #80 309
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The sacrotuberous ligament (great or posterior sacrosciatic ligament) is situated at the lower and back part of the pelvis. It is flat, and triangular in form; narrower in the middle than at the ends.

It runs from the sacrum (the lower transverse sacral tubercles, the inferior margins sacrum and the upper coccyx) to the tuberosity of the ischium.

The membranous falciform process of the sacrotuberous ligament was found to be absent in 13% of cadavers. When present it extends towards the ischioanal fossa travelling along the ischial ramus and fusing with the obturator fascia.

The sacrotuberous ligament contains the coccygeal branch of the inferior gluteal artery.

The lower border of the ligament was found to be directly continuous with the tendon of origin of the long head of the Biceps femoris in approximately 50% of subjects. Biceps femoris could therefore act to stabilise the sacroiliac joint via the sacrotuberous ligament.

Additional images

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  Articulations of pelvis. Anterior view.

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  The superficial branches of the internal pudendal artery.

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  The posterior aspect of the rectum exposed by removing the lower part of the sacrum and the coccyx.

External links

• SUNY Figs 13:03-04 - "Deep muscles of the gluteal region with gluteus medius and maximus muscles removed."
• SUNY Figs 17:02-05 - "Posterior view of the bones and ligaments of the hip joint."
• SUNY Labs 41:os-0114 - "The Female Perineum"
• SUNY Labs 42:12-0102 - "The Male Perineum and the Penis: Boundaries of the Ischioanal fossa"
• SUNY Anatomy Image 9075
• Anatomy at Dartmouth hip/hip%20ligaments/ligaments7

References

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 As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated.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.