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Transversus abdominis: anatomy, location and function

Transversus abdominis is the deepest of the three flat muscles of the abdominal wall. It compresses the abdominal contents and helps to stabilise the lumbar spine.

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Highlighted in the model: Transversus abdominis. Click any part to read about it, or switch off “Highlight topic” to see the whole body. Use Male / Female to switch bodies. 3D data: BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science; knee ligaments, menisci, tonsils, palate and parotid glands from the Human Reference Atlas Visible Human Male model and female parts from its Visible Human Female model (HuBMAP / NIH); lung lobes built from the BodyParts3D chest; all CC BY 4.0; meshes simplified and recoloured. The default body is an adult male.

Transversus abdominis at a glance

What it is
Transversus abdominis is the deepest of the three flat muscles of the abdominal wall.
Location
It lies under the internal oblique, with fibres running horizontally from the costal cartilages 7 to 12, thoracolumbar fascia, iliac crest and inguinal ligament forwards to an aponeurosis that reaches the linea alba.
Function
It compresses the abdominal contents and helps to stabilise the lumbar spine.
Body system
Muscular · paired (left and right)
FMA ID
FMA22345 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • TeachMeAnatomy: it 'originates from the inguinal ligament, costal cartilages 7-12, the iliac crest and thoracolumbar fascia' and 'inserts onto the conjoint tendon, xiphoid process, linea alba and the pubic crest'.
  • In the 3D model it is built as the deepest layer of the side wall; BodyParts3D has no transversus abdominis.

Structures next to the transversus abdominis

The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Transversus abdominis (FMA22345). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
  2. Jones O. The Anterolateral Abdominal Wall. TeachMeAnatomy.
  3. OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §11.2 Naming Skeletal Muscles. Rice University, 2022.
  4. 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.