Sartorius at a glance
- What it is
- The longest muscle in the body, a strap-like muscle crossing the thigh obliquely.
- Location
- Originates from the anterior superior iliac spine and inserts onto the upper medial surface of the tibia as part of the pes anserinus.
- Function
- Flexes, abducts and laterally rotates the thigh at the hip and flexes the knee, as in sitting cross-legged.
- Body system
- Muscular · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA22354 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Innervation: femoral nerve (L2–L3)
- Blood supply: muscular branches of the femoral artery
- Forms the lateral border of the femoral triangle and roof of the adductor canal
Structures next to the sartorius
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Descending branch of lateral circumflex femoral artery · cardiovascular
- Adductor magnus · muscular
- Rectus femoris · muscular
- Femur · skeletal
- Vastus intermedius · muscular
- Vastus medialis · muscular
- Vastus lateralis · muscular
- Gracilis · muscular
- Femoral vein · cardiovascular
- Femoral artery · cardiovascular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Sartorius (FMA22354). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §11.2 Naming Skeletal Muscles. Rice University, 2022.
- Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.
Related anatomy
Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.