Adductor magnus muscle

Adductor magnus muscle
The adductor magnus and nearby muscles
Structures surrounding right hip-joint. (Adductor magnus at upper right.)
Latin	musculus adductor magnus
Gray's	subject #128 473
Origin	pubis, tuberosity of the ischium
Insertion	femur
Artery	Obturator artery
Nerve	posterior branch of obturator nerve (adductor) and sciatic nerve (hamstring)[1]
Actions	adduction of hip extension of hip

The adductor magnus is a large triangular muscle, situated on the medial side of the thigh.

The portion which arises from the ischiopubic ramus (a small part of the inferior ramus of the pubis, and the inferior ramus of the ischium) is called the "adductor magnesius portion", and the portion arising from the tuberosity of the ischium is called the "hamstring portion". The hamstring portion is not considered part of the hamstring group of muscles, but it is adjacent to it.

Adductor portion

Those fibers which arise from the ramus of the pubis are short, horizontal in direction, and are inserted into the rough line of the femur leading from the greater trochanter to the linea aspera, medial to the gluteus maximus.

Those fibers from the ramus of the ischium are directed downward and laterally with different degrees of obliquity, to be inserted, by means of a broad aponeurosis, into the linea aspera and the upper part of its medial prolongation below.

Hamstring portion

The medial portion of the muscle, composed principally of the fibers arising from the tuberosity of the ischium, forms a thick fleshy mass consisting of coarse bundles which descend almost vertically, and end about the lower third of the thigh in a rounded tendon which is inserted into the adductor tubercle on the medial condyle of the femur, and is connected by a fibrous expansion to the line leading upward from the tubercle to the linea aspera.

Innervation

The adductor and hamstring portions of the muscle are innervated by two different nerves. The adductor portion is innervated by the obturator nerve and the hamstring portion is innervated by the sciatic nerve.

Osseoaponeurotic openings

At the insertion of the muscle, there is a series of osseoaponeurotic openings, formed by tendinous arches attached to the bone. The upper four openings are small, and give passage to the perforating branches of the profunda femoris artery. The lowest is of large size, and transmits the femoral vessels to the popliteal fossa.

Action

The function of the adductor magnus is to serve as a powerful adductor of the thigh, along with being able to extend the thigh.

Ontogeny and phylogeny

In lower animals, the adductor magnus crosses the knee joint and inserts into the tibia. In humans, the distal part of the tendon detaches and becomes the medial collateral ligament of the knee joint. (Eizenberg, 2008)

See also

• adductor hiatus

Additional images

Muscles of the iliac and anterior femoral regions.

Cross-section through the middle of the thigh.

Deep muscles of the medial femoral region.

The arteries of the gluteal and posterior femoral regions.

References

External links

• LUC admg
• -939130803 at GPnotebook
• SUNY Labs 14:st-0401
• Adductor+magnus+muscle at eMedicine Dictionary
• PTCentral

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained within it may be outdated.