Adductor longus
Adductor longus is the flat, fan-shaped muscle at the front of the inner thigh, running from the pubis to the middle of the femur.
At a glance
- English
- Adductor longus
- Latin (TA2)
- Adductor longus
- System
- Muscle
- Region
- Lower limb
- Side
- Paired, left and right
About the adductor longus
Adductor longus is the most anterior of the adductor muscles and the one most easily felt: when the thigh is pulled inwards against resistance, its tendon stands out as a firm cord in the groin just below the pubic tubercle. It is a large, flat, triangular muscle lying in one plane with pectineus, and it forms the medial border of the femoral triangle.
It arises by a narrow, rounded tendon from the front of the pubic body, in the angle below the crest and beside the symphysis. The fibres widen into a fan as they pass down, back and out, and end by an aponeurosis on the linea aspera's inner lip, along the femur's middle third. Behind it lie adductor brevis and, lower down, adductor magnus, with adductor brevis wedged between the other two near the bone. In front it is covered by the fascia lata; laterally it borders pectineus and medially gracilis.
Its lower part forms the floor of the adductor canal, and the femoral artery and vein lie on its front surface there. The deep femoral vessels run behind it, separating it from the deeper adductors, and the anterior division of the obturator nerve passes over adductor brevis beneath it. Where sartorius crosses its medial border is the apex of the femoral triangle.
Its main action is adduction of the thigh. It also helps flex the hip, and its effect on rotation is small and depends on the starting position. With the other adductors it controls side-to-side sway of the pelvis and brings the leg across in kicking and in changing direction. Adductor longus is the muscle most often torn in a groin strain, usually near its pubic attachment, in footballers, ice hockey players and others who make sudden sideways or kicking movements.
Attachments, action and supply
- Origin
- Front of the body of the pubis, below the pubic crest and lateral to the symphysis.
- Insertion
- Middle third of the linea aspera, on its medial lip.
- Action
- Adducts the thigh and helps flex the hip; steadies the pelvis with the other adductors.
- Nerve supply
- Obturator nerve, anterior division (L2, L3, L4).
- Blood supply
- Deep femoral artery, medial circumflex femoral artery and obturator artery.
Anthromica
See the adductor longus where it really sits, with every layer of the body around it.
- Every layer, one body. Peel from muscle to bone, nerve, vessel and organ, and turn it any way.
- English and Latin. Every structure named the way your exam names it.
- Quiz until it sticks. Short drills on the structures you keep missing.
Free to start. No card.
