Page 159 - ترم ثاني كتاب تمريض صحة الام الكتروني

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C-Pubic bones and the symphysis pubis
The pubic bones on either side form the front part of the pelvis. The two pubic bones
meet in the middle at the pubic symphysis. (A symphysis is a very strong bony joint.)

The pubic symphysis is immediately below the hair-covered pubic mound that protects
the woman’s external genitalia.

2-Sacrum

The sacrum is a tapered, wedge-shaped bone at the back of the pelvis, consisting of
five fused vertebrae (the small bones that make up the spinal column or backbone). At
the bottom of the sacrum is a tail-like bony projection called the coccyx? The upper

border of the first vertebra in the sacrum sticks out, and points towards the front of the
body; this protuberance is the sacral promontory — an important landmark for labor
and delivery.

3-Coccyx:

▪ The coccyx consists of four fused vertebrae forming a small triangular bone,
which articulates with the fifth sacral segment

The pelvic canal

The roughly circular space enclosed by the pubic bones at the front, and the ischium on
either side at the back, is called the pelvic canal — the bony passage through which

the fetus must pass. This canal has a curved shape because of the difference in size
between the anterior (front) and posterior (back) borders of the space created by the
pelvic bones. You can see it from the side view in (Figure 2 ).

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