Rectus+femoris

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 * Author: Shuayb Omar**

=Description= The rectus femoris muscleis fusiform in shape, being narrower at the origin and insertion points and expanding outwards. The muscle is found in the anterior compartment of the middle of the thigh. The muscle fibres originate from two tendons: The straight head, which originates from the anterior inferior iliac spine and the reflected head which originates from the ilium just superior to the acetabulum. Both the deep and superficial muscle fibres run laterally down the thigh in a[| bipenniform] fashion. The muscle inserts into the base of the patella via the tendon of quadriceps femoris.The rectus femoris is responsible for hip flexion and to a lesser extent knee extension. The posterior division of the femoral nerve supplies the rectus femoris as it enters through the upper part of the muscle. The lateral femoral circumflex artery, which arises from the profunda femoris artery, is the muscles blood supply.

=Interactions and relations to other Muscles =

The rectus femoris is found in the middle of the thigh. The fibres of the sartorius lie superficial to the muscle. Since the muscle is located in the middle of the thigh, the vastus lateralis is found laterally to the muscle and the vastus medialis is found medially to the muscle. . The other 3 muscles of the quadriceps, namely: the vastus medialis, vastus lateralis and vastus intermedius help assist the rectus femoris in knee extension. The iliacus, tensor fasciae latae and psoas major muscles assist in hip flexion. The muscles of the hamstrings, namely: the semitendinosus, semimembranosus and the biceps femoris antagonise this muscle.

=Relevance to Physiotherapy = The rectus femoris is one of the powerful quadraceps muscles. Overuse or explosive loads can cause the tendon or muscle to tear. The physiotherapist job is to strengthen the muscle as well as the surrounding muscles of the anterior thigh region. The overload principle should be used as the physio should slowly increase the imposed resistance on the muscle as well as progress the exercises. An example of this would be starting off with light walking and moving into body weight squats once the muscle is stronger. Injury also leads to inflammation of the soft tissue. Here the physiotherapist can use various massage techniques to alleviate pain and speed up recovery.

=Links to interactive material = = media type="youtube" key="ELJNWCNWLqQ" height="315" width="420" = = = =media type="youtube" key="DNauOlkMbIQ" height="315" width="420" =

=References=  []

 [|www.getbodysmart.com/ap/.../**rectusfemoris**/tutorial.html]

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 http://www.primehealthchannel.com/rectus-femoris.html