Biology:Greater sciatic foramen

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Short description: Part of the pelvis
Greater sciatic foramen
Greater sciatic foramen.png
The pelvis showing the greater sciatic foramen in red
Details
Identifiers
Latinforamen ischiadicum majus
Anatomical terminology

The greater sciatic foramen is an opening (foramen) in the posterior human pelvis. It is formed by the sacrotuberous and sacrospinous ligaments. The piriformis muscle passes through the foramen and occupies most of its volume. The greater sciatic foramen is wider in women than in men.

Structure

It is bounded as follows:

  • anterolaterally by the greater sciatic notch of the ilium.[1]
  • posteromedially by the sacrotuberous ligament.[1]
  • inferiorly by the sacrospinous ligament and the ischial spine.[1]
  • superiorly by the anterior sacroiliac ligament.

Function

The piriformis, which exits the pelvis through the foramen, occupies most of its volume.

The following structures also exit the pelvis through the greater sciatic foramen:[2]

Location Name Vessels Nerves
Below the Piriformis infrapiriform foramen[3] inferior gluteal vessels
internal pudendal vessels
inferior gluteal nerve
pudendal nerve
sciatic nerve
posterior femoral cutaneous nerve
Nerve to obturator internus
Nerve to quadratus femoris

See also

  • Lesser sciatic foramen

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Chaitow, Leon; DeLany, Judith (2011-01-01), Chaitow, Leon; DeLany, Judith, eds., "Chapter 11 - The pelvis" (in en), Clinical Application of Neuromuscular Techniques, Volume 2 (Second Edition) (Oxford: Churchill Livingstone): pp. 299–389, doi:10.1016/b978-0-443-06815-7.00011-5, ISBN 978-0-443-06815-7, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780443068157000115, retrieved 2021-02-06 
  2. "Greater Sciatic Foramen - Wheeless' Textbook of Orthopaedics". wheelessonline.com. http://www.wheelessonline.com/ortho/greater_sciatic_foramen. 
  3. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named isbn0-7817-9013-1

External links