Hip or knee?

Drag00n79

Just wondering if someone here can clarify this for me. It was asked at a quiz recently "what is the largest joint in the human body?". The answer given was the hip but the quizmaster said it was the knee. Can someone here confirm if the hip is a joint as much as the knee is? In which case it is the largest joint, right? I tried googling this but got lots of info backing both hip and knee as the largest.

ronbyrne2005

They are differnet types of joint. Don't know if they can be compared by size without defining what "size of joint" means. Hip is a ball and socket joint, Knee is a hinge joint. I would think the volume of the synovial joint hip joining the pelvis would be greater than the space in knee between femur and lower leg bones (between cartilage surfaces. Not sure though but could be open to debate , especially in a pub quiz!

Bison

I think the knee is the largest because of the combined articular surfaces of the femur, tibia and patella. The first two are also the largest bones in the body.

DrIndy

these are the questions i get into arguments with quizmasters about - does he mean surface area? facets? bones attached?