Answer to Never Take a Novice to a Bullfight

Correct answer is D. The stem of the question clearly sates that the hip has been dislocated. Hence, the answer must specifically indicate a structure that is impaired in a hip dislocation. Most individuals will assume that the patient incurred a hip fracture, likely the intetrochanteric area. However, even the treatment of placing the femoral head back into the socket achieves alleviation of the pain.

The anatomy of the hip joint is complex, consisting of bony anatomy and soft tissue constraints. Typically, they can be classified as simple vs complex. The most common hip dislocation occurs posteriorly, with the mechanism of injury being axial load through a flexed knee (front end collisions while sitting in a car). In traumatic cases, posterior translation of the femoral head can also cause fractures through the posterior acetabular wall (e.g., see Tua Tagovailoa). However, in this case, the patient was fortunate.

Answer to this question is based on material presented in lecture 2 and 3 of the lower limb series.

Correct Answer is E.

Labeled structures

1 = Femoral head

2 = Femoral neck

3 = Lesser trochanter

4 = Labrum of acetabulum

5 = Acetabulum