Pelvis Sighting

Knowing about your hips can help you prevent and treat injuries.

With broad pelvis bones, many women are well-designed for well-designed for childbearing. Unheeded, this characteristic can limit them in certain types of athletics, yet women can take measures to stay in the game.

About half of all women have a wide pelvis, creating an alignment of the lower body that predisposes them to some injuries. It's important to know about the muscles and bones of the hip and pelvis: how to avoid injuring them and how to recover if you get injured.

Anatomy of the Pelvis

The pelvic bones and the hip joint are a complex connection of bones held together by ligaments. The major muscles of the trunk and legs attach to or cross the hip joint. The pelvis is a ring of bones connected by ligaments into a bowlike shape.

They attach in the rear to the sacrum, the lower portion of the spine, at two joints called the sacroiliac joints. The bowl closes in front at the pubic symphysis. On the side, the part of the pelvis we can feel is called the iliac crest.

We sit on the bony ischium overlaid by the buttocks, or gluteal muscles. Below the iliac crest is a deep socket called the acetabulum; the ball-like head of the femur, or thigh bone, fits into it.

The joints of the pelvis don't have much mobility, but the hip joint does. Balance between the strength and flexibility of the back, abdomen and hip muscles is important in reducing injury potential.

A woman's pelvis is a broader and deeper bowl than a man's, and so requires that the hip joints be farther apart. The leg is angled inward slightly from the hip to the knees to allow the knee to be near the midline of the body.

This angle is recognized by a knock-kneed appearance. The lower leg is angled slightly outward from the knee to the foot, sometimes resulting in excessive pronation, or rolling inward, of the foot.

These increased angles cause greater force during movement and a propensity for overuse injuries. Doctors can evaluate whether you have the alignment associated with the broad pelvis by measuring the angle from the knee to the hip, the Q angle.

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Foreword: Billie Jean King

Comments by Barb Harris
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