A resident physician is performing a pelvic examination on a young woman. The fingers of one of her hands is in the patient's vagina and is palpating the cervix. The other hand is pressing on the abdomen. With the palm of this hand, the physician feels a bony structure in the lower midline. This structure is most likely the ?

The resident is feeling the two pubic bones, which are joined at the midline by the symphysis pubis. Experienced obstetrician/gynecologists can often perceive the softening of the symphysis pubis that occurs during late pregnancy as a "springiness" of the pubic bones during palpation.The coccyx is the caudal terminus of the veebral column, generally formed by the fusion of four rudimentary veebral bodies. It is also called the tailbone.The ischium is the poion of the pelvis on which a person sits.The ilium is one of the two "wings" that form the lateral sides of the pelvic cavity and suppo the abdominal contents. Ref: Moon D.A., Foreman K.B., Albeine K.H. (2011). Chapter 6. Overview of the Abdomen, Pelvis, and Perineum. In D.A. Moon, K.B. Foreman, K.H. Albeine (Eds), The Big Picture: Gross Anatomy.