Ilium
Also called: iliac bone
What it means
The ilium is the largest, uppermost part of the pelvis—the wide, curved bone you feel as your hip bone.
The ilium helps support your body weight and connects your spine to your legs, so its strength matters for mobility and fracture protection.
The ilium is the largest of the three bones that fuse together to form each side of the pelvis (the other two are the ischium and pubis). You can feel its upper edge as the bony ridge of your hip when you rest your hands on your waist. It's a flat, curved bone with a thick outer shell of cortical bone and spongy trabecular bone inside.
Bone density scans don't usually measure the ilium directly, but it's part of the same skeletal system affected by bone-thinning conditions like osteopenia and osteoporosis. The ilium is also a common site for bone marrow biopsies, since it contains a good amount of marrow, and it can be a site of pelvic fractures, especially after a fall or significant impact.
Because the ilium is a weight-bearing structure that connects your spine to your legs, it shares loads during standing, walking, and other everyday movement. Keeping bones strong throughout the pelvis matters for mobility and reducing fracture risk, particularly in older adults where pelvic fractures can significantly affect independence and recovery time.
The ilium is the large hip bone that supports body weight and links your spine to your legs.
Where this leads
WordThe ilium is part of the larger pelvis structure. Curious how the whole pelvis works together to bear your body weight?
Related words
The pelvis is the large, bowl-shaped bone structure that connects your spine to your legs and supports your body weight.
A pelvic fracture is a break in the ring of bones connecting the spine to the legs, often caused by a fall in older…
The sacrum is the triangular bone at the base of your spine that connects your backbone to your pelvis.
Trabecular bone is the spongy, honeycomb-like bone found inside structures like your spine and hip, providing…
Cortical bone is the dense, hard outer layer of bone that forms a protective shell and resists bending and twisting…
Bone marrow is the soft tissue inside bones where red bone marrow makes your red blood cells, white blood cells, and…
Education only, not medical advice. Decisions about tests, medications and treatment belong with your own doctor. OsteoStrong does not diagnose, treat or cure any disease.
