Greater sciatic notch

Greater sciatic notch
Surface of the hip showing the greater sciatic notch in red.
Details
Identifiers
Latin	Incisura ischiadica major
Dorlands /Elsevier	i_05/12447350
TA	A02.5.01.009
FMA	16902
Anatomical terms of bone []

The greater sciatic notch is a notch in the ilium, one of the bones that make up the human pelvis. It lies between the posterior inferior iliac spine (above), and the ischial spine (below). The sacrospinous ligament changes this notch into an opening, the greater sciatic foramen.

The notch holds the piriformis, the superior gluteal vein and artery, and the superior gluteal nerve; the inferior gluteal vein and artery and the inferior gluteal nerve; the sciatic and posterior femoral cutaneous nerves; the internal pudendal artery and veins, and the nerves to the internal obturator and quadratus femoris muscles.

Of these, the superior gluteal vessels and nerve pass out above the piriformis, and the other structures below it.

The greater sciatic notch is wider in women (about 74.4 degree in female) than in men (about 50.4 degree in male).

This article incorporates text in the public domain from the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)