HIP JOINT-FEMORAL HEAD & NECK

SUMMARY

1. The non-articulating convexity of the head is excavated into a pit (the fovea) for attachment of the ligamentum teres.
2. The other end of the ligamentum teres is attached to the transverse ligament.
3. The fibrous capsule is strengthened by 3 ligaments - ilio-femoral, ischio-femoral (weakest ligament), pubo-femoral.
4. These ligaments are 'unwound' if the femur is flexed & externally rotated.
5. Blood supply - nutrient arteries from the trochanteric anastamosis which travel along the NOF, under the retinacular fibres & artery within the ligamentum teres (usually atrophied by age 7).
6. Nerve supply - branches of the femoral n., sciatic n. & obturator n.


Image: Gray, Henry. Anatomy of the Human Body. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger, 1918; Bartleby.com, 2000. www.bartleby.com/107/ [Accessed 14 Apr. 2019].

Reference(s)

R.M.H McMinn (1998). Last’s anatomy: regional and applied. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone.
Gray, H., Carter, H.V. and Davidson, G. (2017). Gray’s anatomy. London: Arcturus.