Where is the quadriceps femoris muscle located? What is the quadriceps muscle? At home

The three latissimus muscles originate on the corresponding parts of the femur. On the outer part there is the vastus externus muscle, on the inner part there is the vastus intermedius muscle, on the front and middle part there is the vastus intermedius muscle, which lies deep between the vastus intermedius and the vastus externus muscles. The rectus femoris is the fourth muscle in the quadriceps and originates on the iliac crest pelvic bone located above the hip joint.

Straight femoral muscle occupies the entire anterior surface of the thigh and is the longest of all the heads of the quadriceps muscle.

Collectively, these four muscles attach to the quadriceps tendon, which attaches to the patellar tendon and runs down the tibia patella. On the tibia, the quadriceps is attached to the iliac tuberosity, and under the patella it passes into the patella. On the inside of the thigh is the medial muscle, with outside the lateral passes through, and the rectus muscle is located in the middle of the femur. Intermedius muscle The femur is located directly under the rectus muscle and is the weakest of all four heads.

Quadriceps function

The quadriceps femoris muscle performs the function of extending the leg at the joint. The thigh is raised to the chest by the rectus and lumboiliac muscles. Since the quadriceps is the most large muscle human body, it can be pumped up to incredible sizes, which is often practiced by many bodybuilders. The most popular exercises for the quadriceps muscle are presses, extensions and squats.

Over time, the quadriceps get used to monotonous exercises, so they need a varied set of exercises to increase muscle mass.

Since the quadriceps femoris respond well exclusively to basic exercises, ten to fifteen repetitions should be done in one set (more is possible). The ideal solution would be to choose three to four exercises that you do for three to four sets each. The result will be noticeable after a few months. Also great exercise the quadriceps will be squats with a barbell on the chest, which Arnold Schwarzenegger himself adores. The benefit of this exercise is the forward position of the barbell, which actively targets the quadriceps muscle.

Vastus medialis muscle
Vastus lateralis muscle
Vastus semimedius muscle
Rectus femoris muscle

Quadriceps femoris muscle and stress points

From left to right: rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, vastus semimedius

FEMORUS FEMORUS MUSCLE- this is the largest and strong muscle bodies. It weighs twice as much as the next largest muscle, the gluteus maximus, and is made up of four separate muscles: vastus medialis, vastus lateralis, vastus semimedius, and rectus. The quadriceps muscle is the main extensor of the leg and knee.

Vastus medialis muscle runs along the inner side of the thigh.

Vastus lateralis muscle goes around the thigh from the outside.

Vastus semimedius muscle runs along the front of the femur.

Rectus femoris muscle lies over the wide midsection and extends to the middle of the thigh bone. Of all the muscles that make up the quadriceps muscle, only this one is biarticular - it passes through both the knee and the hip joint. From above it is attached to the protrusion on the front side of the pelvic bone. This way, she not only straightens the knee, but also flexes the hip and pulls it towards the chest.

These four muscles are connected to each other and attached to tibia(just below the knee) with a thick tendon. The kneecap is located just inside this tendon.

Stress points occur in the quadriceps muscle as a result of injuries, falls, sprains, or after direct injury to the knee. The formation of these points can be caused by overexertion during prolonged squatting, strong bending of the knee, strong blows kicking, repeated jumping, running fast. Increased activity of the quadriceps muscle leads to the development of tension points. This happens in sports such as skiing, football, basketball, mountaineering, cycling, as well as during dancing and hiking. Any activity that requires you to bend and straighten your leg frequently can cause problems, whether it's gardening, playing tennis or baseball. Because the quadriceps muscle works closely with the hamstring tendon, tightness in the hamstring tendon causes the quadriceps muscle to contract and makes it difficult to release. The quadriceps will not function properly until the hamstring relaxes and stretches.

The main source of pain in the knee joint is tension points in the muscles. However, the diagnosis is often misdiagnosed. Each muscle in the quadriceps causes pain in different places and has a different effect on the knee. Due to the fact that the quadriceps muscle is located in the front, working it is relatively easy.

Stress points in wide medial muscle located near the knee and in the middle of the thigh on the inside. They cause pain on the front and back sides knee joint and in the lower thigh. Sometimes the pain lasts for weeks and then suddenly goes away. It is then that weakness appears in the knee, and it begins to bend involuntarily.

To find stress points, use thumb. When you find them, press directly on them.

In the vastus lateralis muscle Quite a few stress points can form. They are located along the entire length of the muscle, can be near the knee, in the middle of the thigh and in the upper part. Typically, they cause pain on the outside of the thigh, but it can spread along the entire length of the thigh to the knee, as well as on the outside and back of it. You may have difficulty lying on your side. Contraction of the vastus lateralis muscle can reduce the mobility of the knee joint, leading to pain and difficulty walking. Sometimes it will be difficult to simply bend your leg.

To find stress points, massage your thigh to your knee. When you find pressure points, lie on your side and place the ball between your thigh and the floor. Gravity will compress the stress points. Take your time and be patient. To achieve complete relaxation, you need to repeat this several times.

Stress points in vastus semimedius muscle, which is the deepest, act in a different way from the rest. They usually appear after stress points have been present in other quadriceps muscles for some time. If they are present, pain occurs and spreads along the outer side of the thigh. It may then be difficult to climb stairs and get up from a chair after sitting for a long time.

Tension points in this muscle are the most difficult to find because it is located under the rectus femoris muscle. To feel them, you need to press deeply with your fingers. top part hips. To relax the muscle, use a small hard ball or other object.

Stress points in rectus femoris muscle usually occur closer to the fastening in its upper part. Pain is felt in the front of the knee, in kneecap and often deep inside the knee joint. It can spread to bottom part hips, make it difficult to go down stairs, be painful and get worse at night.

To find the rectus femoris muscle, sit in a chair and feel the protrusion on the front of your pelvic bone above the junction of your hip and torso. When you move your fingers lower, you will find two thick tendons. You will immediately feel the separation between them if you bend your leg slightly at the hip joint. One tendon (on the inside) belongs to the sartorius muscle, and the other (on the outside) belongs to the rectus femoris muscle (what you are looking for).

Draw a little down along the tendon where it meets the muscle. By massaging the muscle, you will find tight bands and points of tension. They are the ones who need to be put under pressure. For these purposes, you can use your fingers, a small hard ball or another hard object. This can be done both sitting and standing.

To speed up relief from pain caused by the quadriceps muscle, stretching is necessary.

Stretch: Stand or sit on the edge of a chair. Grab your ankle with your hand and pull your heel toward your buttock. If you are doing this standing, it is important that the thigh of your bent leg is in line with the leg you are standing on (as shown in the picture). For a better stretch, tilt your pelvis forward so that your hip joint does not flex. If your muscles are so tight that you can't support your leg, place it on a chair or stand and tilt your body back. Maintain this position for 20-30 seconds. Repeat several times a day until complete relaxation.

Stretching the hamstrings and adductors is very important to fully relax the quadriceps muscle.

TRAINING:
Rectus femoris muscle


Vastus medialis muscle

RIGHT
The torso should be straight.
You should pull your leg toward your body carefully, stretching the muscle only to the extent that you feel comfortable.
The gaze should be directed forward.

WRONG
You should not lean forward.
The back should not bend.
You should not slouch your shoulders.

SIDE LUNCH STRETCH

TARGET
Buttocks
Inner side hips
Quadriceps muscles

LEVEL
For beginners

BENEFITS
Helps increase flexibility of leg muscles.

CONTRAINDICATED
For knee problems TRAIN:
Rectus femoris muscle
Vastus lateralis muscle
Vastus intermedius muscle
Vastus medialis muscle1. Spread your legs wide and lean your torso forward. Your arms should be in front of you, and your hands should rest on the floor. 2. Move one knee to the side so that the other leg remains straight. Place most of your weight on bent leg to feel the muscle stretch in the straightened leg. Stay in this position for 30 seconds. 3. Repeat, switching legs. Do three 30-second sets on each leg. RIGHT
When stretching, the leg should be fully straightened.
While stretching, your gaze should be directed to the floor.
Feet should be flat on the floor. WRONG
The body should not rotate.
The back should not bend forward.
You should not arch your back or neck.

In today's article we will talk about two injuries to the well-known quadriceps femoris muscle, which I sometimes jokingly call the “four-faced” Janus. However, before turning our attention to the problems with this muscle, we will consider the general mechanisms of trigger point development - this is necessary to move on to the narrower topic of treatment of trigger points of the quadriceps femoris muscle.

Trigger points develop for a number of reasons, but for now we will focus on only one explanation for their occurrence, which stems from an understanding of the mechanism of injury due to forced braking of the body, in which tissues are subjected to excessive stretching in order to stop the movement of a certain part of the body. In Western literature, such injuries are called “inhibition injuries.”

Primary trigger point activation is usually associated with some degree of mechanical strain on the muscle, which may be acute, chronic, or repetitive (1).

In addition, prolonged stay of the muscle in a shortened state can lead to activation of an already existing latent trigger point. This process is significantly accelerated if the shortened muscle contracts frequently. The number of active trigger points is associated with the degree of nerve compression that causes changes visible on electromyography (research on this issue was carried out on paraspinal muscles, but all evidence indicates that this judgment is also true for other muscles). Trigger points can be activated due to disruption of microtubule protein transmission between the neuron and the motor nerve terminal.

An example of a “braking injury” that many of us have experienced at some time or another is a tissue injury to the sternocleidomastoid muscle (SCM). Whiplash injuries occur due to forced acceleration of movement cervical spine spine (for example, when flexing or extending the neck) and rapid inhibition of this movement by the GCM and anterior neck muscles. As a result, muscle strain and shortening occurs, which, in turn, if left untreated, can lead to activation of trigger points, pain and limited mobility.

PREVENTION IS THE BEST CURE
Many professional sports trainers include in the training program for their students exercises aimed at practicing braking, which helps prevent various sports injuries. This type of training allows athletes to develop braking skills, which gives them the ability to control force when slowing down certain movements. Very often people start doing serious exercises, play sport games and run five-kilometer marathons completely unprepared. In simple terms, they get injured because their muscles simply cannot adapt to the colossal load so quickly - this requires sufficient training experience and time to adapt. It is because of this approach to training that many novice athletes develop microtears in the tissues. Over time, microtears develop into muscle knots, causing pain and loss of function.

Our muscles contract concentrically to create force and acceleration, isometrically to stabilize and balance position, and eccentrically to reduce force and slow down movement. Beginning athletes often focus their attention solely on concentric contractions that provide acceleration - they simply go outside and run.

After conducting several tests, the doctor did not find the cause of the pain. Then this man came to me. I asked him how many kilometers he had run in a week when he first started feeling pain in his knee, and what kind of shoes he ran in. It turned out that he ran only 3-4 kilometers in total per week, trying to run longer and longer every day. The pain developed gradually, and yes, before starting training, he bought running shoes.

And now I will list his mistakes, which I do not advise anyone to repeat: he did not warm up before running, he did not study the techniques gradual increase mileage, he didn’t stretch after running because he simply didn’t have enough time. In addition, he didn't even follow the advice on the box of running shoes - in the first four weeks, such shoes should be worn only 10% of the day to allow the feet, ankles, knees and hips to adapt to the unusual position.
I asked him to show the place where the pain was most intense. He pointed to a spot just above the patella. I performed the Thomas test to determine if the quadriceps muscle was shortened and found that the muscles on the right side of the leg were significantly shortened compared to the muscles on the left.
The goal of therapy was to increase the length of the quadriceps femoris muscle and relieve knee pain. The culprit turned out to be a classic trigger point in the rectus femoris muscle, which I found high on my thigh just below the lower anterior iliac spine. In addition, his posture also contributed to this problem - he had a left pelvic tilt.

I believe that the main detail of each session is to have a momentary goal, the achievement of which will prove to you that you have chosen correct technique and treatment strategy. The starting point for therapy in this case for me was the results of the Thomas test and the intensity of the pain in the knee.

THERAPY PLAN FOR THE TRIGGER POINT OF THE RECTIVE FEMOR MUSCLE
1. We started with manual therapy, focusing on stretching the rectus femoris muscle and the surrounding fascia.
2. Then I started a light pinch massage of the rectus femoris muscle.
3. I then thoroughly warmed the muscle with a hot towel. You can use stones or bags of rice for this purpose.
4. I then used proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation to stretch the rectus femoris muscle.

The session lasted 45 minutes. Several times I checked the severity pain in the knee and muscle length. After the first session, the client, according to him, felt 90 percent better, and after the second - 100 percent better. I also gave him a homework assignment - strengthening, stretching and stabilizing this muscle in order to “accustom” it to sudden braking, which is extremely important for running.

The main character of the following story is an avid golfer. He complained of sudden attacks of pain in the medial part of the knee joint and its instability, as well as pain in the hips. The orthopedist assured him that he could not find any visible cause of the pain. Again, I assessed the length of the quadriceps femoris muscle using the Thomas test, while also turning my attention to the length of the adductor muscles using the Patrick test (Faber sign). I bring the client's leg into a position of abduction and medial rotation to isolate the adductors. I found that the muscles on the left side, where the pain was occurring, were shorter than the muscles on the right side. This was confirmed in all tests.

When I heard this, I immediately asked him if he had recently changed his golf shoes. Shoes can affect the transfer of energy from the ankles on the right side during the backswing to the left side when hitting the ball. Excessively stiff shoes prevent inversion and eversion of the ankles, which leads to increased stress on the knee joint. This is a clear example of the development of trigger points due to frequent repetition of a certain movement - the ankles are in incorrect position every time you hit the ball. Upon palpation, I discovered a trigger point in the proximal vastus medialis muscle, which caused pain in the anteromedial part of the knee and in the lower thigh.

Trigger points in this muscle are very easy to miss, since they minimally limit the mobility of the knee and in some cases do not cause pain - they only lead to dysfunction. Most vastus medialis trigger points are painful for only a few weeks. The problem then progresses to a different phase - instead of pain, there are sudden episodes of weakness of the quadriceps femoris muscle, which leads to destabilization of the knee joint (1).

TRIGGER POINT THERAPY OF THE VASTUS MEDIALIUS MUSCLE OF THE FEMOR
The starting point for treatment of vastus medialis trigger points is pain, Thomas test, Patrick test, and adductor length.
1. During the session, the client lay on his back, stomach and side. We started by lying on our backs, concentrating on the massage in this position. back surface hips.
2. I then asked the client to lie on his side and straighten the painful leg to work the adductors. The other leg was bent at a 90-degree angle and rested on a pillow.
3. I then lengthened the tissue of the vastus medialis and its fascial connection with the adductor muscles.
4. After that, I started pinch massage of this muscle. Pinch massage was followed by proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation. Following this technique, I stretched the quadriceps and adductor muscles.
5. At the very end I used hot towels to warm up the muscle.

Each step should be repeated until the length of the muscle and the severity of pain change. After this session, the client discovered that he had absolutely no pain, but to consolidate it, I conducted another session.

LIST OF ENGLISH SOURCES

1. Travell J, Simmons DG.
Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: The Trigger Point
Manual, Vol. 2. Philadelphia: LWW, 1998

Debbie Roberts

The vastus lateralis muscle is one of the heads of the quadriceps, located on the front and partly the lateral surface of the thigh. The thick oblique fibers of the vastus lateralis originate from the greater trochanter, intertrochanteric line, and lateral lip of the vastus linea. Heading down, the muscle passes into the broad tendon, which is part of the common tendon of the quadriceps muscle and is involved in the formation of the lateral suspensory ligament of the patella. It is covered from above by the tensor muscle fascia lata, and in front - the rectus femoris muscle. The vastus lateralis muscle occupies almost the entire anterolateral surface of the thigh.

The vastus medialis, vastus lateralis and vastus intermedius perform one single function - leg extension. These muscles work together with the larger ones gluteal muscles, hamstrings and calf muscles during squats. The rectus femoris muscle is also involved in this movement, but it is fully involved only when hip flexion is combined with knee extension, for example, when changing legs while walking. Harmonious developed muscles quadriceps muscles allow you to jump high, kick hard, squat, and also support correct posture when walking.

Unfortunately, very often the vastus lateralis is much stronger than the vastus medialis. This imbalance causes the patella to wear and dislodge as the leg flexes and extends. Most often, the patella is pushed laterally into the femoral groove, resulting in pain and cartilage damage.

If the imbalance is severe, the patella may move completely out of the groove—patellar luxation occurs. This often occurs in people with a high quadriceps angle, or “Q” angle. The quadriceps angle is measured in a lying position with legs straight. This angle is determined by a line running from the superior anterior iliac spine to the patella and from the center of the patella to the tibial tubercle. The normal quadriceps angle is 5 - 15 degrees. In women, this angle is usually greater due to the greater width of the pelvis compared to men.

In addition to the disproportionate development of the vastus lateralis muscle relative to the vastus medialis, adhesion of the iliotibial tract and the vastus lateralis muscle is very often observed. Adhesion leads to patellar displacement and chronic acute pain, and can also cause inflammation in the greater trochanter and lateral femoral condyle.

Massage techniques aimed at separating fascial layers and lengthening shortened muscles are the best prevention and treatment of these diseases.

PALPATION OF THE LATERAL VASTUS MUSCLE OF THE FEMOR

Position: the client lies on his back, one leg is slightly bent at the knee. The applied pressure is adjusted depending on the client's condition.
1. Stand to the side of the client, facing the hip. Using your palm, determine the location of the greater trochanter of the femur.
2. Slide your palm distally along the lateral thigh.
3. Palpate the oblique fibers of the vastus lateralis muscle posterior and anterior to the iliotibial tract.
4. Hold the client's leg while he tries to straighten it to return the patella to its normal position.

STRETCHING THE QUADRICEPS AT HOME

1. Stand straight, feet shoulder-width apart.
2. Bend both knees slightly, keeping your back straight. Shift your body weight to your right leg.
3. Bend left leg at the knee, raising the heel of your left foot to the buttock, and grab your foot with your left hand.
4. Gently pull your heel towards your buttock. Try not to hunch over. The buttocks should be tense. To stretch the lateral broad muscle hips, lean forward slightly.
5. Repeat the same with your right leg.

When a newbie starts going to Gym, the last thing he dreams of is good developed legs. After all, he doesn’t think about the fact that the disproportion between the top and bottom of the body looks very stupid. You can often observe a situation where an athlete with a well-developed upper body has legs that look like toothpicks, which looks very funny and absurd. Therefore, we recommend setting yourself up for serious leg training from the very beginning, because if you don’t do this now, in a few years, when your lower body begins to noticeably lag behind your upper body, it will be very difficult for you to include leg training in your routine. training plan.

Quadriceps occupy 70% of the muscle mass of the leg, so their development is fundamental in leg training. The main exercise for developing quadriceps is squats. But, for beginners, at the beginning of training, it is better to start with leg extensions while sitting in a machine, leg presses and hyperextensions to strengthen lower section back, to avoid injury, to prepare the basis for future heavy squats. You should include squats in your training plan about six months after you start training.

The quadriceps consists of fast and slow muscles. muscle fibers, therefore for harmonious development muscles need to perform not only strength, but also aerobic exercise. Train your quadriceps strength exercises no more than once a week. Perform 2-3 exercises in 3-4 sets of 8-12 repetitions each. In addition to strength training We recommend running or cycling.