Gluteus minimus muscle

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Gluteus minimus

The gluteus minimus and nearby muscles

Structures surrounding right hip-joint. (Gluteus minimus visible at center left.)
Gray's	subject #128 475
Origin:	Gluteal surface of ilium, under gluteus medius.
Insertion:	Greater trochanter of the femur
Blood:	superior gluteal artery
Nerve:	superior gluteal nerve (L4, L5, S1 nerve roots)
Action:	Works in concert with gluteus medius: abduction of the hip; preventing adduction of the hip.

The gluteus minimus, the smallest of the three gluteal muscles, is placed immediately beneath the gluteus maximus.

It is fan-shaped, arising from the outer surface of the ilium, between the anterior and inferior gluteal lines, and behind, from the margin of the greater sciatic notch.

The fibers converge to the deep surface of a radiated aponeurosis, and this ends in a tendon which is inserted into an impression on the anterior border of the greater trochanter, and gives an expansion to the capsule of the hip joint.

A bursa is interposed between the tendon and the greater trochanter.

Between the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus are the deep branches of the superior gluteal vessels and the superior gluteal nerve.

The deep surface of the gluteus minimus is in relation with the reflected tendon of the rectus femoris and the capsule of the hip joint.

[edit] Variations

The muscle may be divided into an anterior and a posterior part, or it may send slips to the piriformis, the superior gemellus or the outer part of the origin of the vastus lateralis.

[edit] Additional images

Muscles of the gluteal and posterior femoral regions.

The arteries of the gluteal and posterior femoral regions.

[edit] External links

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.