Short head of biceps femoris at a glance
- What it is
- The head of biceps femoris that does not cross the hip joint.
- Location
- Originates from the lateral lip of the linea aspera and lateral intermuscular septum of the femur and inserts onto the head of the fibula with the long head.
- Function
- Flexes the knee and laterally rotates the flexed leg.
- Body system
- Muscular · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA45891 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Innervation: common fibular nerve (L5–S2); the long head is supplied by the tibial nerve
- Not a true hamstring because it does not cross the hip
Structures next to the short head of biceps femoris
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Semitendinosus · muscular
- Long head of biceps femoris · muscular
- Semimembranosus · muscular
- Vastus lateralis · muscular
- Vastus medialis · muscular
- Vastus intermedius · muscular
- Lateral superior genicular artery · cardiovascular
- Popliteal vein · cardiovascular
- Gracilis · muscular
- Descending genicular artery · cardiovascular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Short head of biceps femoris (FMA45891). 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.