The groin ligament
Inguinal ligament · ligamentum inguinale
The band of tissue along the crease where your thigh meets your belly.
What it does
The inguinal ligament runs from the front point of the hip bone to the pubic bone. It is the rolled lower edge of the external oblique muscle's tendon sheet. The femoral artery, vein and nerve pass beneath it into the thigh, and just above it a canal runs through the abdominal wall.
Surprising fact
The inguinal canal above the ligament is the path the testes take into the scrotum before birth, which leaves a weak spot that makes groin hernias far more common in men.
Why it matters
A bulge in the groin that appears when you cough or strain can be an inguinal hernia, where part of the bowel pushes through. It is common and usually repaired with simple surgery.
Nearby
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Sources
Drafted with AI help; awaiting a human fact-check against these sources.
Open in the 3D atlas · Suggest a correction · Not medical advice.
3D models: Z-Anatomy & BodyParts3D (CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2.1 JP). Card text CC BY 4.0.