Inferior gluteal artery Inferior gluteal artery The inferior gluteal artery (sciatic artery), the smaller of the two terminal branches of the anterior trunk of the internal iliac artery, is distributed chiefly to the buttock and back of the thigh. It passes down on the sacral plexus of nerves and the piriformis muscle, behind the internal pudendal artery, to the lower part of the greater sciatic foramen, through which it escapes from the pelvis between the piriformis and coccygeus. It then descends in the interval between the greater trochanter of the femur and tuberosity of the ischium, accompanied by the sciatic and posterior femoral
Hip bone sacroiliac joint. Each hip bone is connected to the corresponding femur (thigh bone) (forming the primary connection between the bones of the lower limb and the axial skeleton) through the large ball and socket joint of the hip. The hip bone is formed by three parts: ilium, ischium, and pubis. At birth, these three components are separated by hyaline cartilage. They join each other in a Y-shaped portion of cartilage in the acetabulum. By the end of puberty the three regions will have fused together, and by the age of 25 they will have ossified. The two hip bones join