I am confused regarding the 5 major leg adductors–do they laterally rotate the femor or medially rotate the femor? One anatomy book (Chris Jarmey p. 131) states they “laterally rotate hip joints” and another book (Clemente p. 326) state that all adductors “medially rotate the femor”. Please clarify–my physical body sense feels that they laterally rotate the femor.
This is indeed a confusing piece of information. In the best of my anatomy books - by Carmine Clemente and Frank Netter - these muscles vary in terms of rotation. The variance is due to variances in the lateral to medial and anterior to posterior curvatures of the femur. To complicate it even more the pelvis may be forward or posterior of the femur in some individuals with anterior or posterior tilt. The answer is that some of them are medial rotators and others lateral. but the amount of motion is quite minimal in both cases. The main piece to understand is that these muscles are primarily adductors and hip flexors. Ocassionally one will encounter a student where the rotation component is a factor in their limited ROM or pain. namaste mukunda