A handbook of obstetric and gynaecological nursing / by the late Fleetwood Churchill.

  • Fleetwood Churchill
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A handbook of obstetric and gynaecological nursing / by the late Fleetwood Churchill. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    It is connected superiorly with the last lumbar vertebra, laterally with the ossa ilia, interiorly with the os coccygis, and by ligaments with the ossa ischia. The Os Coccygis, or huckle-bone, is the continuation and termination of the os sacrum and vertebral column. It is formed by four or five points of ossification in the foetus, which do not afterwards unite, but are tipped with cartilage, and moveable by a hinge joint. The entire bones form a pyramid, the apex of which is below. The external surface is irregular, and the in- ternal smooth, terminating the plane of the sacrum, and extending it anteriorly. The small sciatic ligament and the ischio-coccygeal muscle are inserted into it. In midwifery practice this apparently insignificant bone, is of importance, as any deviation from its normal direction or usual mobility, may influence the progress of parturition. CHAPTER III. OF THE JOINTS OF THE PELVIS. Before proceeding to the consideration of the pelvis collectively, let us briefly examine the joints by which the separate bones are connected, and especially as deficient information on this subject has heretofore led to erroneous practical conclusion. We shall notice, 1, the sacro-iliac synchondroses ; 2, the symphysis pubis; and 3, the sacro-coccygeal joint. The Sacro-iliac Synchondrosis, of either side, consists of a rough irregular surface on the posterior part of the ilium and the side of the sacrum, each of which is covered with a layer of cartilage, from one- sixth to one-eighth of an inch in thickness. At the point of junction of these two layers, their substance is somewhat softer, which has led to the erroneous supposition that it is a joint properly so called. This union of the bones is strengthened by strong ligamen- tous bands, which stretch across from one bone to the other in front and behind, rendering the joint perfectly
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