The Rectus femoris muscle is one of the four quadriceps muscles of the human body. (The other are the vastus medialis, the vastus intermedius (deep to the rectus femoris), and the vastus lateralis.) All four combine to form the quadriceps tendon, which inserts into the patella and continues as the patellar ligament.

The Rectus femoris is situated in the middle of the front of the thigh; it is fusiform in shape, and its superficial fibers are arranged in a bipenniform manner, the deep fibers running straight down to the deep aponeurosis. It arises by two tendons: one, the anterior or straight, from the anterior inferior iliac spine; the other, the posterior or reflected, from a groove above the brim of the acetabulum. The two unite at an acute angle, and spread into an aponeurosis which is prolonged downward on the anterior surface of the muscle, and from this the muscular fibers arise. The muscle ends in a broad and thick aponeurosis which occupies the lower two-thirds of its posterior surface, and, gradually becoming narrowed into a flattened tendon, is inserted into the base of the patella.

External links

• PTCentral

Muscles of the lower limb | Musculus rectus femoris | Vastus lateralis