Muscle · Hips

Adductor brevis

Musculus adductor brevis

The middle layer of the adductor group, hidden behind pectineus and adductor longus and in front of adductor magnus. It is short and triangular, running from the pubis to the top of the back of the femur, and it adducts and helps flex the hip. Its main anatomical claim to fame is that the obturator nerve splits around it — the anterior branch passes in front, the posterior branch behind — which makes this small muscle the landmark that organises the whole medial compartment.