Greater trochanter

Muscles attaching or palpated here

• Deep hip rotators — Six small, deep muscles behind the hip joint, running from the pelvis to the top of the femur, that laterally rotate the hip and steady the head of the femur in its socket.
• Gemelli — Two small, paired deep hip muscles, above and below the obturator internus tendon, that help it laterally rotate the hip.
• Gluteus maximus — The largest and most superficial buttock muscle, and the main extensor of the hip.
• Gluteus medius — Thick, fan-shaped muscle on the outer side of the pelvis that abducts the hip and keeps the pelvis level when you stand on one leg.
• Gluteus minimus — The smallest and deepest of the three gluteal muscles, lying under gluteus medius, that abducts and medially rotates the hip.
• Obturator externus — Flat, triangular muscle covering the outside of the front of the pelvis whose tendon wraps under the neck of the femur to laterally rotate the hip.
• Obturator internus — Fan-shaped deep hip muscle that starts inside the pelvis, turns around the back of the ischium and laterally rotates the hip.
• Piriformis — Flat, pear-shaped deep hip muscle running from the front of the sacrum to the greater trochanter that laterally rotates the hip.
• Quadratus femoris — Flat, four-sided deep muscle between the ischial tuberosity and the back of the femur that strongly laterally rotates and adducts the hip.
• Quadriceps — Group of four large muscles on the front of the thigh that join into one tendon over the kneecap and are the only muscles that straighten the knee.
• Tensor fasciae latae — Small muscle at the front of the outer hip, just below the ASIS, that tightens the iliotibial band and helps flex, abduct and medially rotate the hip.
• Vastus lateralis — The largest quadriceps muscle, covering the outer side of the thigh, which straightens and steadies the knee.