Muscle · Hips

Adductor magnus

Musculus adductor magnus

Two muscles wearing one name. The adductor part sweeps from the pubic and ischial rami across to the whole length of the linea aspera and is a broad, powerful adductor; the hamstring part drops from the sit bone straight down to the adductor tubercle on the inside of the knee and is, functionally and neurologically, a hamstring — it extends the hip and takes its nerve from the sciatic. That dual identity is the point: adductor magnus is a huge hip extensor hiding in the inner thigh, and it works with gluteus maximus every time you stand up out of depth. Its aponeurosis is pierced by the perforating arteries and leaves a gap at the bottom — the adductor hiatus — through which the femoral vessels pass to the back of the knee.