Vastus lateralis at a glance
- What it is
- The largest quadriceps muscle on the lateral thigh.
- Location
- Originates from the greater trochanter and lateral lip of the linea aspera and inserts into the quadriceps tendon and lateral border of the patella.
- Function
- Extends the leg at the knee.
- Body system
- Muscular · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA38930 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Innervation: femoral nerve (L2–L4)
- Blood supply: descending branch of the lateral circumflex femoral artery
Clinical relevance
It is a common site for intramuscular injections.
Structures next to the vastus lateralis
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Vastus intermedius · muscular
- Descending branch of lateral circumflex femoral artery · cardiovascular
- Rectus femoris · muscular
- Vastus medialis · muscular
- Femur · skeletal
- Sartorius · muscular
- Long head of biceps femoris · muscular
- Adductor magnus · muscular
- Short head of biceps femoris · muscular
- Gracilis · muscular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Vastus lateralis (FMA38930). 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.