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Greater sciatic foramen
Greater sciatic foramen
	The pelvis showing the greater sciatic foramen in red
Details
Identifiers
Latin	foramen ischiadicum majus
TA98	A03.6.03.008
TA2	1316
FMA	17031
	Anatomical terminology [edit on Wikidata]

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
Above the Piriformis	suprapiriform foramen^[3]	superior gluteal vessels	superior gluteal nerve
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

References

This article incorporates text in the public domain from page 309 of the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)

^ ^a ^b ^c Chaitow, Leon; DeLany, Judith (January 1, 2011), Chaitow, Leon; DeLany, Judith (eds.), "Chapter 11 - The pelvis", 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, retrieved February 6, 2021
^ "Greater Sciatic Foramen - Wheeless' Textbook of Orthopaedics". wheelessonline.com. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
^ ^a ^b Yokochi, Chihiro; Rohen, Johannes W. (2006). Color Atlas of Anatomy: A Photographic Study of the Human Body. Hagerstown, MD: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. p. 482. ISBN 978-0-7817-9013-0.