Medial Muscles (Adductors): Hip Muscles

Overview

• The medial muscles run down the inside of the leg and are called the adductors.
• Adductors move the thigh toward the body’s midline.

Adductors

• Muscles: Pectineus, Adductor Longus, Adductor Brevis, Adductor Magnus, Gracilis
• Description: The five adductors run from the pelvis down the inside of the leg.
• Actions: These muscles are responsible for adducting the thigh at the hip joint and flexing the thigh at the hip joint.

Teaching Considerations

• The adductors can limit poses that require the thighs to separate widely such as in Baddha Konasana and Upavistha Konasana.

Fascial Connections

[The adductors are] the top end of a fascial line that begins at the arch of the foot and runs up the inside line of the leg ending at the pelvic floor. [Collapsed arches, pronation of the feet or standing with feet and hips] ducked out in a ballerina kind of position cause this inner foundation to sag, and weakens the whole pelvic girdle. – Robin Rothenberg