Bony landmark · Hips

Greater trochanter

Trochanter major

The greater trochanter is the large squared block of bone at the top-outer corner of the thigh bone — the hard lump you feel on the side of the hip, and the part that presses into the mattress when you lie on your side. Everything that controls the hip from the side and behind lands on it: the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus onto its outer and front facets, and the deep rotators — piriformis, obturator internus with the gemelli, and obturator externus into the hollow behind it — onto its inner side. Bursae sit between the bone and the IT band that passes over it, which is why this point can be so tender to lie on.