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Adductor Magnus
Today I worked on a gentleman whose adductors were incredibly tight and painful to the touch. There was a moment when I did a release and all of his tenderness dissipated. The tissue then allowed me to sink several inches deeper into his inner thigh.
The release I did was specifically for adductor magnus. Adductor magnus is an interesting muscle. It originates from the inferior ramus of the pubis, the ramus of the ischium, and the ischial tuberosity.
This is a rather large area for adductor magnus to originate from, and it travels from the anterior inferior pubis along the ramus of the ischium to the posterior inferior aspect of the ischial tuberosity. It inserts on the gluteal tuberosity, all along the linea aspera, and at the adductor tubercle. Again, a wide expanse of attachments that go from posterior lateral to directly posterior to directly medial on the femur.
The actions of adductor magnus are pretty simple considering its vastness. It does adduction of the thigh at the hip, as well as flexion and extension of the thigh at the hip. It never crosses the knee, so all of its formal actions are at the hip. But, its main job is to maintain the space of the medial thigh as the femur travels lateral from the knee. This means that any imbalance of the femur will create tension in adductor magnus, and tension in adductor magnus with all of its attachment sites can create misalignments of the femur, the hip bone, and/or the iliofemoral joint.
While we pay attention to the IT band, the hamstrings, and the quads, let us not forget one of the hardest working muscles in the thigh – adductor magnus. https://efullcircle.com/spontaneous-muscle-release-technique-lower-extremities/
