230 SURGICAL ANATOMY OF THE 



CHAPTER VI. 



SUKGICAL ANATOMY OF THE LOWER EXTREMITY. 



THE region of the hip includes, anteriorly, the superior 

 femoral region, or the upper third of the front of the 

 thigh, immediately below Poupart's ligament; poste- 

 riorly, the gluteal ; and internally, the ischio-pubie or 

 obturator. These several regions cover in the articula- 

 tion of the hip-joint. The region of the hip-joint may 

 be described as having for its limits, the iliac crest and 

 sacral groove, Poupart's ligament, and below, a line en- 

 circling the limb, just below the fold of the nates. 



8urfo.ee Markings. Anteriorly, are the muscular 

 prominences formed by the tensor vaginse femoris exter- 

 nally ; internally the adductors and gracilis, crossed ob- 

 liquely below by the sartorius. Posteriorly, is the swell 

 of the gluteus maximus ; and internally, the tuberosity 

 of the ischium, and the rami of the pubes and ischium, 

 covered by their muscles. 



The position of the trochanter major with regard to 

 the several bony projections of the region should be care- 

 fully studied in every position of the limb. Its situa- 

 tion is marked by a deep depression, when the individual 

 is standing upright with the heels together, and its dif- 

 ferences of relation in flexion, extension, adduction, and 

 abduction, should be compared. These relations are 

 obviously of the utmost importance in the diagnosis of 

 dislocation or fracture connected with the hip-joint. 



