The Innominates
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Today we’re looking at the hip bone, called the “innonimate”. First, how cool a name is that?! How strong, how mysterious. I imagine two bones meeting in the playground during recess. The slender upper arm introduces himself to the hip bone, “Hi, I’m Humerus.” To which the hip bone thinks to himself, what a comedian. And replies in his low voice, “I’m Innominate”, rattling Humerus’ bone. What a name?! Oh, what does it mean, you ask? It means, rather anticlimactically, “that with no name”.
You have two innominates. If you put your hands on your hips, your hands are on the top part of each innonimate. You could think of the innominates as the wings on a Tie Fighter from Star Wars. And sandwiched in between them is the sacrum, like the body of the Tie Fighter.
Structurally, the innominates’ function is to attach the leg to the torso. Without innominates, we’d be worms with unattached legs on either side. Not very functional. When two bones meet, we have what’s called a ‘joint’. Where the thigh meets the innominate, we have the hip joint. And where the innominate meets the sacrum, we have the ‘SI joint’. The ’S’ for ‘sacrum’ and you can think of the ‘I’ as for ‘innominate’ (not entirely accurate, but acceptable). Imagine how much force is going through the SI joint. The weight of the entire upper body, arms, and head weigh down and it’s only the innominates squeezing the sacrum that keeps the upper body from falling to the floor. That force then transmits through the hips, down to the knees, ankles, and feet. It’s no wonder that our SI joints and hip joints experience so much discomfort, aches, and pains at times.
The innominates are quite irregularly shaped bones. I can’t imagine what the first person to have discovered an innominate would have thought it was. It’s got edges, ridges, smooth surfaces, rough surfaces, pointy parts, blunt parts, and on and on. And each shape and surface and physical feature has it’s own unique purpose:
-edges and ridges are where thin, sheet-like muscles attach
-smooth surfaces are where flat, wide muscles attach
-rough surfaces in this case are where the innominates join the sacrum. The rough surfaces of each bone in the joint help to stabilize the joint, keep it from moving much.
-pointy parts serve as attachments for long, thin muscles
-blunt parts serve as attachments for long, strong muscles and serve as your “sit bones”. Literally, what you sit on. You know when you get up from a squishy chair, and you see two impressions in the seat cushion? Those two impressions come from the bottom ends of your innominates.
When you examine all of these attachment sites on the innonimate, you’ll realize that 30 to 35 (depending on how you classify things) different muscles attach to each innominate! That's the most of any bone in the body!
There’s a lot going on at the innominate: it’s the place to be. Muscles that attach to the innominate participate in moving the hip, the knee, lower back, mid back, upper back, shoulder, and even the pelvic floor! You can imagine, then, that a massage to anywhere on the innominate is also having an effect on numerous other areas of the body…as far away as the shoulder, neck, and knee!
You have two innominates. If you put your hands on your hips, your hands are on the top part of each innonimate. You could think of the innominates as the wings on a Tie Fighter from Star Wars. And sandwiched in between them is the sacrum, like the body of the Tie Fighter.
Structurally, the innominates’ function is to attach the leg to the torso. Without innominates, we’d be worms with unattached legs on either side. Not very functional. When two bones meet, we have what’s called a ‘joint’. Where the thigh meets the innominate, we have the hip joint. And where the innominate meets the sacrum, we have the ‘SI joint’. The ’S’ for ‘sacrum’ and you can think of the ‘I’ as for ‘innominate’ (not entirely accurate, but acceptable). Imagine how much force is going through the SI joint. The weight of the entire upper body, arms, and head weigh down and it’s only the innominates squeezing the sacrum that keeps the upper body from falling to the floor. That force then transmits through the hips, down to the knees, ankles, and feet. It’s no wonder that our SI joints and hip joints experience so much discomfort, aches, and pains at times.
The innominates are quite irregularly shaped bones. I can’t imagine what the first person to have discovered an innominate would have thought it was. It’s got edges, ridges, smooth surfaces, rough surfaces, pointy parts, blunt parts, and on and on. And each shape and surface and physical feature has it’s own unique purpose:
-edges and ridges are where thin, sheet-like muscles attach
-smooth surfaces are where flat, wide muscles attach
-rough surfaces in this case are where the innominates join the sacrum. The rough surfaces of each bone in the joint help to stabilize the joint, keep it from moving much.
-pointy parts serve as attachments for long, thin muscles
-blunt parts serve as attachments for long, strong muscles and serve as your “sit bones”. Literally, what you sit on. You know when you get up from a squishy chair, and you see two impressions in the seat cushion? Those two impressions come from the bottom ends of your innominates.
When you examine all of these attachment sites on the innonimate, you’ll realize that 30 to 35 (depending on how you classify things) different muscles attach to each innominate! That's the most of any bone in the body!
There’s a lot going on at the innominate: it’s the place to be. Muscles that attach to the innominate participate in moving the hip, the knee, lower back, mid back, upper back, shoulder, and even the pelvic floor! You can imagine, then, that a massage to anywhere on the innominate is also having an effect on numerous other areas of the body…as far away as the shoulder, neck, and knee!