Muscles & movement of

Lower Limb
By Sara Dilshad
Introduction on Lower Limb Components
and Function
•The Lower Limb consists of four major parts which includes:
- The hip bones (help to make up the pelvic girdle, 2 hip bones +
sacrum)
- The thigh (between hip and above the knee)
- The leg (between the start of the top of the knee and above the foot)
- The foot
•  It’s main function and specialization is to support the weight of the
upper body, adapt to gravity and locomotion (moving from one place
to another).
Lower Limb components and function

•  Movements and Muscles of the Hip Joint

•-Flexion, Extension, Abduction, Adduction, Medial and Lateral
Rotation.
• Movements and Muscles of the Leg/Knee
•-Flexion, Extension, Medial Rotation, Lateral Rotation
• Movements and Muscles of the Leg/Foot (includes ankle)
•-Dorsiflexion, Plantarflexion, Eversion, Inversion
Movements at Hip Joint
• Movements
Flexion: psoas, iliacus, rectus femoris and sartorius.
Extension: gluteus maximus and the hamstrings.
Abduction: gluteus medius and minimus, sartorius
and others.
Adduction: adductor group.
Lateral rotation: mainly gluteal muscles and adductor
group.
Medial rotation: gluteus medius and minimus and
others.
GLUTEAL REGION
•
The gluteal region, or buttock, is bounded superiorly by the iliac crest
and
inferiorly by the fold of the buttock. The region is largely made up of
the gluteal muscles and a thick layer of superficial fascia.
• These consist of the glutens maximus,
medius and minimus which together form the fleshy part
of the buttock. They originate from the ilium and sacrum
and are inserted into the femur.
• Function
• They cause extension, abduction and medial rotation at the hip joint.
Gluteal Region Muscles
Movements at hip joint
• Gluteus Maximus and Intramuscular Injections
The gluteus maximus is a large, thick muscle with coarse fasciculi that
can
be easily separated without damage. The great thickness of this
muscle
makes it ideal for intramuscular injections.
Muscles of gGuteal (Deep)region
Muscles & movement at Hip Joint / Thigh
Extension
• . Hamstring muscles & gluteus maximus muscles are the power ful
extensors of hip joint
• Hamstring muscles lies on the posterior aspect of the thigh.
• They originate from the ischium and are inserted into the upper end of
the tibia.
• They are biceps femoris
• semimembranosus
• semitendinosus muscles
• They also flex the knee joint .
Hamstring muscles
Muscles & movement at hip joint Flexion
Anterior Compartment of Thigh
• Sartorius This is the longest muscle in the body and crosses both the
hip and knee joints.
Sartorius muscle
Quadriceps femoris
• This is a group of four muscles
lying on the front and sides of the thigh.
• They are the rectus femoris and three vasti. The rectus femoris
originates from the ilium and the three vasti from the upper end of
the femur. Together they pass over the front of the knee
joint to be inserted into the tibia by the patellar tendon.
Action of the muscle
• The quadriceps femoris muscle (consisting of the rectus femoris, the
vastus
intermedius, the vastus lateralis, and the vastus medialis) inserts into
the
patella and, via the ligamentum patellae (patellar ligament), attaches
to the
tibial tuberosity
• Only the rectus femoris
• flexes the hip joint and also extend the knee joint.
• Together the group acts as a very strong extensor of the knee joint.
Quadriceps femoris
Adduction & Medial rotation at hip joint
• Muscles of medial compartment of thigh
• Adductor group. This lies on the medial aspect of the
thigh.
• They originate from the pubic bone and are inserted into the linea
aspera of the femur.
• They adduct and medially rotate the thigh.
• Adduction- The thigh moves medially toward the midline.
Also keeps head of femur in the acetabulum (to help
increase hip stability in conjunction with abductors).
•  Main Adductor muscles: Adductor Longus, Adductor brevis,
Adductor Magnus and Gracilis are the powerful hip
adductors.
• Assisted by pectineus
•Medial rotation: gluteus medius and minimus
Adduction
Lateral Rotation-
•Lateral Rotation- moves the knee and foot laterally.
•Lateral Rotation Muscles: Gluteus maximus is most powerful,
assisted by 6 muscles which include piriformis, obturator
internus and externus, the gemelli (superior and inferior), and
quadratus femoris.
•The six muscles are also stabilisers of the hip joint
•(steady the head of the femur into the acetabulum).
 Movements of the Leg/Knee – Flexion and
Medial/Lateral Rotation
 Flexion- Flexion of the leg is flexion at the
knee. (Only slight rotation can occur at the
knee joint)
 Main Flexor Muscles: Hamstrings which include
semitendinosus, semimembranosus, biceps
femoris).
 Other Weak Knee Flexors: Sartorius, Gracilis,
Gastrocnemius and Deep popliteus.
 Biceps Femoris flexes the knee and laterally
rotates
knee slightly when flexed.
 Semimembranous and Semitendinous flex knee and
medially rotate it.Sartorius and Gracilis also help
to medially rotate
the knee.
Gastrocnemius
• This forms the bulk of the calf of the
leg. It arises by two heads, one from each condyle of the
femur, and passes down behind the tibia to be inserted
into the calcaneus by the calcanean tendon (Achilles
tendon).
• Action
• It crosses both knee and ankle joints, causing
flexion at the knee and plantarflexion at the ankle
Movements of the Leg/Knee –
Extension
Extension - Extension of the leg is extension at the knee.
 Main Extensor Muscles: Quadriceps (Rectus Femoris, and Vastus
Lateralis, Vastus Medialis, and Vastus Intermedius).
Movements of the Ankle and
Foot - Dorsiflexion
 Dorsiflexion– flexion of the foot in an upward direction
where the toes are brought closer to the shin. It could be
considered "true" extension at the ankle.
 Main Dorsiflexion muscle- Tibilias Anterior
 Minor Dorsiflexion muscles- Extensor hallucis longus,
Extensor digitorum longus and Fibularis tertius (these
three muscles are also involved in extension of the
digits/toes).
Posterior compartment of Leg
Movements of the Ankle and
Foot - Plantarflexion
 Plantarflexion– Movement of the foot that flexes the foot
or toes downward toward the sole. It could be considered
"true" flexion at the ankle.
 The posterior (flexor) compartment has superficial and
deep components; the superficial group contains the two
large plantarflexors.
 Main Plantarflexor muscles- Gastrocnemius (two
joint muscle) and Soleus.
 Minor Plantarflexor muscles- Popliteus (involved in knee
flexion as mentioned before), Tibialis posterior (also
inverts foot), Flexor hallucis longus, Flexor digitorum
longus (these two muscles are also involved in flexion of
the digits/toes) and Plantaris.
Movements of the Ankle and
Foot – Inversion and Eversion
 Inversion– Movement that tilts the sole of the foot
towards the midline of the body.
 Main Inversion muscles- Mainly Tibialis anterior, assisted
by
tibialis posterior.
 Eversion- Movement that tilts the sole of the foot
away from the midline of the body.
 Main Eversion muscles- Fibularis Longus, Fibularis
Brevis
and Fibularis Tertius
NOTE: Fibularis muscles also known as Peroneus muscles, so
you may see the names Peroneus longus, brevis, etc instead.
Genu Valgum and Genu
Varus
Genu valgum is a clinical term describing ‘knocking of the knee’. The
medial collateral ligament on the knee limits this movement, so a valgus
stress is placed on the knee to test the integrity of this ligament.
 Genu varus is the clinical term for "bowleg". The lateral collateral ligament
limits this movement, so a varus stress is placed on the knee to test the
integrity of this ligament.
 The knee diagram on the right shows the different components that keeps
the knee intact including ligaments and meniscus