Pectineus muscle

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Pectineus
The pectineus and nearby muscles
Structures passing behind the inguinal ligament. (Pectineus visible at bottom right.)
Latin musculus pectineus
Gray's subject #128 472
Origin pubis - superior pubic ramus
Insertion    Lesser trochanter, linea aspera
Artery: Obturator artery
Nerve: Femoral nerve, sometimes obturator nerve
Action: Thigh - flexion, adduction, medial rotation
Dorlands
/Elsevier
m_22/12550120

The pectineus muscle is a flat, quadrangular muscle, situated at the anterior part of the upper and medial aspect of the thigh.

It can be classified in the medial compartment of thigh[1] (when the function is emphasized) or the anterior compartment of thigh (when the nerve is emphasized).[2]

Contents

[edit] Action

It is one of the muscles primarily responsible for hip flexion. It also adducts and medially rotates the thigh.

[edit] Innervation

Innervation is by the femoral nerve (L2 and L3) and occasionally a branch of the obturator nerve.

[edit] Origin and insertion

It arises from the pectineal line of the pubis and to a slight extent from the surface of bone in front of it, between the iliopectineal eminence and tubercle of the pubis, and from the fascia covering the anterior surface of the muscle; the fibers pass downward, backward, and lateralward, to be inserted into a the pectineal line of the femur which leads from the lesser trochanter to the linea aspera.

[edit] Additional images

[edit] References

  1. ^ Ellis, Harold; Susan Standring; Gray, Henry David (2005). Gray's anatomy: the anatomical basis of clinical practice. St. Louis, Mo: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone, 518. ISBN 0-443-07168-3. 
  2. ^ Norman/Georgetown medialthigh

[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 As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated.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.