The anococcygeal body (anococcygeal ligament or anococcygeal raphe) is a fibrous median

raphe Raphe ( ; from ;Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). ''A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie.'' Oxford: Clarendon Press. : raphae or raphes) has several differe ...

in the floor of the

pelvis The pelvis (: pelves or pelvises) is the lower part of an Anatomy, anatomical Trunk (anatomy), trunk, between the human abdomen, abdomen and the thighs (sometimes also called pelvic region), together with its embedded skeleton (sometimes also c ...

, which extends between the

coccyx The coccyx (: coccyges or coccyxes), commonly referred to as the tailbone, is the final segment of the vertebral column in all apes, and analogous structures in certain other mammals such as horse anatomy, horses. In tailless primates (e.g. hum ...

and the margin of the

anus In mammals, invertebrates and most fish, the anus (: anuses or ani; from Latin, 'ring' or 'circle') is the external body orifice at the ''exit'' end of the digestive tract (bowel), i.e. the opposite end from the mouth. Its function is to facil ...

. It is composed of fibers of the

levator ani muscle The levator ani is a broad, thin muscle group, situated on either side of the pelvis. It is formed from three muscle components: the pubococcygeus, the iliococcygeus, and the puborectalis. It is attached to the inner surface of each side of the ...

that unite with the muscle of the opposite side, muscle fibres from

external anal sphincter The external anal sphincter (or sphincter ani externus) is an oval tube of skeletal muscle fibers. Distally, it is adherent to the skin surrounding the margin of the anus. It exhibits a resting state of tonical contraction and also contracts duri ...

, and

fibrous connective tissue Connective tissue is one of the four primary types of animal tissue, a group of cells that are similar in structure, along with epithelial tissue, muscle tissue, and nervous tissue. It develops mostly from the mesenchyme, derived from the mesode ...

.Daftary, Shirish; Chakravarti, Sudip (2011). Manual of Obstetrics, 3rd Edition. Elsevier. pp. 1-16. . The fibers of the levator ani pass downward and backward to the middle line of the floor of the pelvis; the most posterior are inserted into the side of the last two segments of the

; those placed more anteriorly unite with the muscle of the opposite side, in the anococcygeal body.

References

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Image at rsnajnls.org

(Peer-reviewed medical chapter, available free online at eMedicine) Musculoskeletal system {{musculoskeletal-stub

See also

References

External links