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Muscles of the Thigh Quiz
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Which movement is primarily produced by the muscles of the medial compartment of the thigh?
- A Hip extension You picked ✕
- B Hip adduction You picked ✓
- C Hip abduction You picked ✕
- D Lateral rotation of the hip You picked ✕
- E Knee extension You picked ✕
Correct!
Incorrect
The answer is B: Hip adduction
Explanation
Why B is correct
See Introduction. Option B is correct because the muscles of the medial compartment of the thigh are collectively known as the hip adductors. There are five: gracilis, obturator externus, adductor brevis, adductor longus and adductor magnus. Adduction means moving the thigh towards the midline of the body, as when you squeeze your knees together or hold a ball between them. These muscles arise from the pubic region of the pelvis (the pubis and adjacent bone) and run down to the femur or, for the gracilis, the tibia, so they sit on the inner side of the hip joint and pull the thigh inwards. The adductor muscles are supplied by the obturator nerve, a branch of the lumbar plexus (a network of nerves in the lower back), apart from the hamstring part of adductor magnus, which the sciatic nerve supplies; damage to the obturator nerve weakens adduction of the thigh. Individual muscles add smaller actions, for example the gracilis also flexes the knee and the obturator externus rotates the thigh laterally, but adduction is the shared main job of the compartment. Strains of these muscles are the usual cause of a groin strain, seen in sports that need explosive movements or extreme stretching.
- Group: the five muscles of the medial compartment are the hip adductors.
- Main action: adduction, moving the thigh towards the midline.
- Nerve supply: the obturator nerve.
Why the other options are incorrect
- A. Hip extension: Hip extension is chiefly the job of the hamstrings in the posterior compartment and of gluteus maximus. Only the hamstring part of adductor magnus, one portion of one medial muscle, helps. It is not the main action of the compartment. Your answer
- C. Hip abduction: Abduction moves the thigh away from the midline, and it is the work of gluteus medius and minimus on the outer hip. It is the opposite of what the medial compartment muscles do. Your answer
- D. Lateral rotation of the hip: Obturator externus does laterally rotate the thigh, so this option is partly true of one muscle. It is a lesser action and is not the main shared function of the five muscles, whereas the deep gluteal muscles are the main lateral rotators. Your answer
- E. Knee extension: Knee extension is produced by the quadriceps femoris in the anterior compartment, supplied by the femoral nerve. No medial compartment muscle is a knee extensor. The gracilis, the one that reaches below the knee, flexes it. Your answer
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More questions from this set. Start the quiz to answer them and see each explanation.
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1
Which muscle of the anterior thigh is the longest in the body and contributes to flexion of both the hip and the knee?
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2
Which combination of actions is most directly produced by contraction of the gracilis?
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