Let’s take a look around two synovial joints (the hip joint and the knee joint), starting with the hip joint.

The hip joint is a ball and socket joint between the pelvis (socket) and the head of the femur (ball). The femur (upper leg bone) is free to move in any direction.

The outside layer of the joint is made up of tough, fibrous, connective tissue called the capsule. Much of this is cartilage.

Cartilage is a relatively hard connective tissue. The articular cartilage is found in a joint, where it covers the parts of bones in direct contact with one another. Here you can see it inside the socket, and over the head of the ball.