Ligament · Hips

Ligamentum teres femoris

Ligamentum capitis femoris

A flattened cord running inside the hip joint from the notch in the lower rim of the socket to a small pit on the head of the femur. It is wrapped in synovial membrane, so it lies inside the joint but outside its fluid space, and it carries a small artery to the head of the bone within it. Mechanically it is a minor player beside the three capsular ligaments outside the joint, becoming taut when the bent hip is drawn across the body and turned outward. Its most consistent significance is the vessel it conveys, not the load it takes.