The Adductor Longus Muscle

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The adductor longus is one of the major muscles of the groin. It works with the other four groin muscles to adduct the thigh by pulling it toward the body’s midline. As its name suggests, the adductor longus is the longest of the adductor muscles in the groin region.

Anatomy

The adductor longus is a long, triangular muscle of the medial compartment of the thigh and is located in the groin inferior to the adductor brevis muscle and superior to the adductor magnus muscle. It arises from a small region on the inferior ramus of the pubis, just inferior to the pubic crest. From its origin, the adductor longus crosses the thigh obliquely inferior and lateral toward the middle of the femur. It significantly widens as it crosses the thigh so that the femoral end is several times wider than the origin. Upon reaching the femur, the adductor longus inserts on the posterior of the femur on the linea aspera distal to the insertions of the adductor brevis and adductor magnus muscles.

Physiology

The adductor femoris is one of five muscles in the medial compartment of the thigh and shares many functions with these muscles. Contraction of the adductor longus draws the linea aspera of the femur medially toward the pubis. The primary result of this contraction is adduction of the thigh, bringing it closer to the body’s midline. Because the origin of the adductor longus is anterior to its insertion, its contraction also causes a slight flexion and medial rotation in the thigh.