Ball and socket joint

This article is about bone joints. For ground glass joints, see Laboratory glassware. For similar mechanical joints, see ball joint.
Ball and socket joint

1: Ball and socket joint; 2: Condyloid joint (Ellipsoid); 3: Saddle joint; 4 Hinge joint; 5: Pivot joint;

Capsule of shoulder-joint (distended). Anterior aspect.
Details
Identifiers
Latin Articulatio sphaeroidea
TA A03.0.00.050

Anatomical terminology

The ball and socket joint (or spheroidal joint) is a type of synovial joint in which the ball-shaped surface of one rounded bone fits into the cup-like depression of another bone. The distal bone is capable of motion around an indefinite number of axes, which have one common center. It enables the bone to move in many places (nearly all directions).

An enarthrosis is a special kind of spheroidal joint in which the socket covers the sphere beyond its equator.[1]

Examples

Examples of this form of articulation are found in the hip, where the rounded head of the femur (ball) rests in the cup-like acetabulum (socket) of the pelvis, and in the glenohumeral joint of the shoulder, where the rounded head of the humerus (ball) rests in the cup-like glenoid fossa (socket) of the shoulder blade.[2] It should be noted that the shoulder includes a sternoclavicular articulation joint.

References

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

  1. ↑ Platzer, Werner (2008) Color Atlas of Human Anatomy, Volume 1, p.28
  2. ↑ And the phalanges (toes, fingers). Module - Introduction to Joints
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