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The buttocks are round elevations separated from each other by a midline vertical furrow, the natal cleft. Just above the natal cleft is a small dimple on either side of the midline; this overlies the posterior superior iliac spine of the hip bone. At their lower extremities each buttock is limited by a horizontal gluteal fold where the skin is firmly anchored. |
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The human buttock is well padded with fat which cushions the region when sitting. Otherwise the skin would chafe on the underlying ischial tuberosity - the part of the hip bone you sit on; most other primates do not have so much fat and they often display calluses over the region of the tuberosity. The gluteal region/buttock contains numerous powerful muscles especially the gluteus maximus, medius and minimus, as well as small rotators of the hip. |
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Health care professionals should view the term buttock as being synonymous with the gluteal region, and thus extending upwards as far as the iliac crest and as far forwards as the greater trochanter of the femur. This is because intramuscular injections are often given "into the buttock" but, if this were done in the lower rounded elevation, the sciatic nerve would be at serious risk. |