Corpus: Symphysis

The term symphysis refers to the process or site of the fusion of tissues. In the narrower sense, "symphysis" refers to the fusion of bones or the connection of two bones by fibrous cartilage.

The symphysis belongs to the non-genuine joints (synarthroses) and to the subgroup of the Articulationes cartilagineae.

In everyday medical usage, "symphysis" is most commonly used to describe the symphysis pubica (pelvic symphysis). Other symphyses are:

• Symphysis mandibulae (mandibular symphysis)
• Symphysis intervertebralis
• Symphysis manubriosternalis

The connection of two bones by hyaline cartilage is called synchondrosis. However, the anatomical nomenclature is not always stringent, so that the terms "symphysis" and "synchondrosis" are also used synonymously for some structures.

While the tightly connected syndesmoses are predominantly subjected to tension and the hyaline connected synchondroses are predominantly subjected to compression, symphyses can be subjected to both tension and compression. A clear example of this is the pelvic symphysis, which is subjected to tensile stress when standing bipedally and predominantly compressive stress when sitting.