Pain from a muscle of the medial thigh

November 15, 2015 7:29 PM

I have long term pain arising somewhere in the inner thigh that happens only when the leg is raised with the knee bent. Straight leg lifts are pain free. I need to know which muscles are involved so as to take appropriate action to heal. Any advice most welcome.
posted by nickji to Health & Fitness (3 answers total)

Is the pain near the knee, near the groin, or along the thigh in between? There's actually a lot of muscles in the "inner thigh" and that would help narrow it down.

Muscles there include:
-adductor longus, brevis, magnus
-gracilis
-sartorius
-semitendinosus
-vastus medialis (part of the quadriceps)
-and up near the groin, there's also pectineus, but it's tiny

(My gross anatomy final exam is coming up on Tuesday. Can you tell?)
posted by ocherdraco at 8:47 PM on November 15, 2015

Do you have the resources to go see a physical therapist? That's what I would do, if I were you. As ocherdraco points out, there are so many possible sources of the pain and so many possible reasons why that muscle might be in pain.
posted by correcaminos at 5:08 AM on November 16, 2015

In terms of narrowing it down, it would also be helpful to identify what other movements turn the pain "on" or "off." For example, beginning with the leg raised and knee bent (pain is on), is there any change when you abduct or adduct your thigh (i.e., swing it out from center, or back in)? What about swinging your foot to the left and right with the upper leg/knee remaining stationary? What happens if you raise your leg higher while maintaining the same angle of bend in your knee?
posted by duffell at 11:21 AM on November 16, 2015