Anatomical and functional study of the musculus psoas major and nervus femoralis in correlation with pelvic diameters

Background/Aim. The iliopsoas muscle [musculus (m.) ili-opsoas] originates from the Greek word psoa, which means loin and represents the only muscle in the body with ana-tomical preconditions to simultaneously and directly con-tribute to the stability and movement of the trunk, pelvis, and legs. M. iliopsoas belongs to the inner thigh muscle group and forms part of the posterior abdominal wall. This muscle is the major flexor of the hip joint, and it is func-tionally essential for proper posture, walking, running, and other physical activities. The aim of this study was to de-termine the relationship between the anatomical parame-ters of the pelvis and nervus (n.) femoralis, as well as the rela-tionship between the same pelvic parameters and m. psoas major. Methods. The study was conducted at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, on cadaveric material of the Institute of Anatomy "Niko Miljanic". For measure-ment purposes, 14 cadavers were used, seven of which were male and seven female, aged 67-79 years. The meas-uring instruments used in this study were a ruler and an electronic digital caliper (measuring range 0-500 mm, reso-lution 0.01 mm). Statistical data processing was performed in the SPSS 11.0 program using the Mann-Whitney U test.