Hip Adductors -- Lateral or Medial Rotation?

[pumpkinpatch]

Hey everyone, I'm brushing up on some anatomy before I start PT school this fall, and I was reading about the adductor muscle group in the thigh. Here's what my textbook says about them:

"All adductor muscles are unique muscles that cross the thigh joint obliquely from an anterior origin to a posterior insertion. As a result, they laterally rotate the hip joint when the foot is off the ground, but medially rotate the hip joint when the foot is on the ground."

(Principles of Anatomy and Physiology, 12th ed. Tortora and Derrickson)

I was having a hard time visualizing this so I looked at my kinesiology book and the exact opposite is drawn, under the group of muscles it lists for medial rotation are the adductors, and they are drawn with the foot off the ground. It does not list adductors under lateral rotation.

So which one is right? This is probably a super basic question, but I'm still a little confused, can anyone enlighten me?

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[goyo1010]

I may be corrected by the current PTs, PT students or the much awesomer incoming PT students on this, but here I go. lol

I referred two of my current books, Clinically Oriented Anatomy by Moore and Biomechanical Basis of Muman Movement by Hamill.

External (Lateral) rotation of the thigh at the hip joint is attributed to the gluteus maximus, obturator externus, and quadratus femoris. The obturator internus, inferior and superior gemellus, and the piriformis contribute to the external rotation when the thigh is extended.

Internal (Medial) rotation of the thigh at the hip joint is caused by the gluteus medius and minimus; however, internal rotation is aided by the contractions of the gracilis, adductor longus, adductor magnus, tensor fascia latae, semimembranosus, and semitendinosus.

The adductor longus and magnus, and gracilis assist in medial rotation when there is knee flexion. The thigh adducts in the middle of the swing phase and medially rotates just after toe-off. The actions of the adductors from the beginning of the swing phase continues on until stance phase.

This is from my two books. According to my sources, your kinesiology book seems more accurate.

 

[truthseeker]

I may be corrected by the current PTs, PT students or the much awesomer incoming PT students on this, but here I go. lol

I referred two of my current books, Clinically Oriented Anatomy by Moore and Biomechanical Basis of Muman Movement by Hamill.

External (Lateral) rotation of the thigh at the hip joint is attributed to the gluteus maximus, obturator externus, and quadratus femoris. The obturator internus, inferior and superior gemellus, and the piriformis contribute to the external rotation when the thigh is extended.

Internal (Medial) rotation of the thigh at the hip joint is caused by the gluteus medius and minimus; however, internal rotation is aided by the contractions of the gracilis, adductor longus, adductor magnus, tensor fascia latae, semimembranosus, and semitendinosus.

The adductor longus and magnus, and gracilis assist in medial rotation when there is knee flexion. The thigh adducts in the middle of the swing phase and medially rotates just after toe-off. The actions of the adductors from the beginning of the swing phase continues on until stance phase.

This is from my two books. According to my sources, your kinesiology book seems more accurate.

the point here is they do both. It depends upon the position of the hip in the sagittal plane. The adductor magnus can do both by itself. It is a huge muscle that attaches on both the anterior part of the femur and the posterior part.

 

[goyo1010]

I guess I'll learn more about this in PT school!

 

[pumpkinpatch]

Thanks for the input!