Muscle · Hips

Gracilis

Musculus gracilis

The thin strap on the very inside edge of the thigh, and the only adductor that reaches past the knee. It runs from the pubis all the way to the top of the shin, arriving as the middle of the three pes anserinus tendons, so it adducts the hip and also flexes and inward-rotates the knee. Being long, superficial and expendable makes it the surgeon's favourite donor muscle. For a therapist its value is as a boundary: it marks the medial edge of the thigh, and its tendon is a reliable landmark for finding everything else at the inner knee.