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Adductor magnusMusculus adductor magnus

Large, triangular inner-thigh muscle with an adductor part and a hamstring part, which pulls the thigh inwards and helps extend the hip.

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LatinMusculus adductor magnus
Origin
  • Adductor part: inferior ramus of the pubis and ramus of the ischium
  • Hamstring part: ischial tuberosity
Insertion
  • Adductor part: rough line from the greater trochanter to the linea aspera, the linea aspera and the medial supracondylar line
  • Hamstring part: adductor tubercle on the medial condyle of the femur
Action
  • Both parts: adduct the hip
  • Adductor part: helps flex the hip
  • Hamstring part: extends the hip
  • May help rotate the hip; the direction depends on hip position
NerveAdductor part: obturator nerve (posterior branch); hamstring part: tibial part of the sciatic nerve (L2–L5)
GroupAdductors
NameLatin adductor, 'one that brings towards', and magnus, 'great' — the largest adductor.

Palpation

  1. Client prone with the leg slightly abducted, or supine with the hip bent and turned out; drape securely and get consent first.
  2. Place your palm flat on the back of the inner thigh at mid-thigh, between the hamstrings and gracilis.
  3. Feel the thick mass running from near the sitting bone down towards the inner knee; just above the inner knee, feel for the tendon reaching the adductor tubercle.
  4. Ask the client to squeeze the legs together against light resistance; the mass firms under your hand.

Landmarks: Ischial tuberosity

Adductor magnus is the biggest of the Adductors and fills much of the inner back of the thigh. It has two parts with different nerves. The adductor part, from the pubic and ischial rami, behaves like the other adductors. The hamstring part, from the Ischial tuberosity, shares its origin and nerve with the Hamstrings and helps extend the hip, so it is sometimes counted as a fourth hamstring. In the prone position, you meet it on the inner edge of the hamstrings.

The root range L2–L5 is taken from Wikipedia’s adductor group table and covers both nerves together. Sources also disagree on rotation: the part attached to the linea aspera is described as a lateral rotator, and the part reaching the adductor tubercle as a medial rotator in some positions.

Draping and client comfort. This is a sensitive area near the groin. Explain what you plan to do and get clear verbal consent, keep the drape firmly tucked so the groin stays covered, and never work under the drape. In the prone position, keep the upper edge of the drape secure over the buttock and inner thigh. Work at mid-thigh and below, and stop if the client is uncomfortable. See Draping and room set-up.

Techniques

  • Effleurage — Long, gliding strokes with the whole palm that spread the medium, warm the tissue and link the other strokes together.
  • Petrissage — Kneading strokes that compress, lift and squeeze the muscle away from the bone, working the tissue between the hands.
  • Compression — Pressing straight down into a muscle with the palm, fist or forearm, holding briefly, then releasing and moving on.
  • Muscle energy technique — The client gently contracts a muscle against the therapist's equal counterforce for a few seconds, relaxes, and the therapist then eases the body part to a new comfortable limit.

Works with

  • Adductor longus — Flat, fan-shaped inner-thigh muscle from the front of the pubic bone to the middle of the femur that pulls the thigh inwards and helps flex the hip.
  • Adductor brevis — Short, triangular inner-thigh muscle lying under pectineus and adductor longus that pulls the thigh inwards and helps flex the hip.
  • Gracilis — Long, thin strap muscle running down the inner edge of the thigh from the pubic bone to the upper inner tibia, which pulls the thigh inwards and helps bend the knee.
  • Pectineus — Short, flat muscle at the top of the inner thigh, running from the pubic bone to just below the lesser trochanter, that flexes and adducts the hip.
  • Hamstrings — Group of three muscles on the back of the thigh, running from the sitting bone to below the knee, that bend the knee and extend the hip.
  • Gluteus maximus — The largest and most superficial buttock muscle, and the main extensor of the hip.

Opposes

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Iliopsoas — Deep hip flexor made of psoas major and iliacus, running from the lumbar spine and inside of the pelvis to the lesser trochanter of the femur, and the strongest flexor of the hip.

Same group

  • Adductor brevis — Short, triangular inner-thigh muscle lying under pectineus and adductor longus that pulls the thigh inwards and helps flex the hip.
  • Adductor longus — Flat, fan-shaped inner-thigh muscle from the front of the pubic bone to the middle of the femur that pulls the thigh inwards and helps flex the hip.
  • Gracilis — Long, thin strap muscle running down the inner edge of the thigh from the pubic bone to the upper inner tibia, which pulls the thigh inwards and helps bend the knee.
  • Pectineus — Short, flat muscle at the top of the inner thigh, running from the pubic bone to just below the lesser trochanter, that flexes and adducts the hip.

Sources

  1. Wikipedia: Adductor magnus muscle
  2. Wikipedia: Adductor muscles of the hip
  3. Wikipedia: Obturator nerve
  4. Wikipedia: Tibial nerve