"False" Ligaments: A Review of Anatomy, Potential Function, and Pathology

This paper, although not an exhaustive review of "false" ligaments in the body, describes eight such ligaments. False ligaments are defined as ligamentous structures connecting separate parts of the same bone and are thus immobile. The ligaments reviewed include the suprascapular ligament, the transforaminal lumbar ligaments, the mamillo-accessory ligament, the transverse atlantal ligament, the transverse occipital ligament, the transverse humeral ligament, the coracoacromial ligament, and the transverse part of the ulnar collateral ligament. In this review, the anatomy and histological characteristics of each ligament are reviewed. Furthermore, possible functions and associated pathologies are described.