Hip Flexors

The hip flexors are those muscles at the top of the thigh and draw the femur forward at the hip (raise the upper leg to the hip). The two most important are the iliacus and psoas major but although separate muscles are commonly referred to in combination as the iliopsoas because they are so closely inter linked. The lumbar vertebrae are the lowest blocks of bone (of which there are five) in the spinal column. The next region upwards of the spinal column is called the dorsal region and consists of the twelve thoracic vertebrae to each of which is attached a pair of ribs Uppermost is the cervical region of which there are seven vertebrae. These regions exist due to the different curves of the spine. The cervical region is convex, the dorsal is concave and the lumbar region is convex. Psoas major is attached to the front of the lumbar vertebrae - all five. It extends down across the front of the hip joint and fixes onto the lesser trochanter, a small bump of bone on the inside of the top of the femur. Iliacus spreads completely over the inside of the hip bone (ilium), round to the inner edge of the front of the sacrum, a triangular bone which is beneath the lumbar region of the spinal column. Iliacus extends down over the front of the hip joint and joins onto the outer side of the psoas major tendon, so that it is fixed with the psoas tendon on the inner edge of the thigh bone. It is difficult to feel the hip flexors. The adductors form a fleshy covering over them at the top of the inner edge of the thigh bone and lie under thick layers of the abdominal muscles. In the groin, iliopsoas lies between the strong cords of sartorius and rectus femoris of the quadriceps group.