{"id":3977,"date":"2021-01-19T13:28:25","date_gmt":"2021-01-19T12:28:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meddists.com\/learn\/pre-clinical\/anatomy\/lower-limb\/thigh\/thigh-muscles\/posterior-compartment\/"},"modified":"2021-01-26T21:37:25","modified_gmt":"2021-01-26T20:37:25","slug":"posterior-compartment","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/meddists.com\/learn\/pre-clinical\/anatomy\/lower-limb\/thigh\/thigh-muscles\/posterior-compartment\/","title":{"rendered":"Posterior compartment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><div class=\"intro\">The posterior compartment of the thigh is conveniently known as the <strong>hamstring muscles<\/strong>, and it consists of three long muscles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Bicep femoris<\/li><li>Semitendinosus\u00a0<\/li><li>Semimembranosus<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/div><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n<span class=\"block-heading\" id=\"header_1\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"title_collection title1\">Description<\/h4>\n<\/span><span class=\"block-content\" id=\"contents_1\">\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The muscles of the posterior compartment share a common origin as the ischial tuberosity and act on both the <strong>hip<\/strong> and the <strong>knee<\/strong> joints, allowing <strong>extension<\/strong> and <strong>flexion<\/strong> at each joint, respectively. All muscles in the posterior compartment are innervated by the <strong>sciatic nerve<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/span><span class=\"block-heading\" id=\"header_2\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"title_collection title1\">Bicep Femoris&nbsp;<\/h4>\n<\/span><span class=\"block-content\" id=\"contents_2\">\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bicep femoris has a <strong>short <\/strong>and a <strong>long head<\/strong>:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The long head of bicep femoris arises from the ischial tuberosity, while the short head originates at the lateral lip of the linea aspera.&nbsp;<\/li><li>Both heads converge distally to form a common tendon that attaches to the fibula.&nbsp;<\/li><li>The two heads are innervated by the sciatic nerve, but the long head, along with the rest of the posterior thigh muscles, is innervated by its <strong>tibial division<\/strong>.&nbsp;<\/li><li>The short head is innervated by the <strong>fibular division <\/strong>of the sciatic nerve.&nbsp;<\/li><li>The bicep femoris acts to <strong>flex and lateral rotate the knee<\/strong>.<\/li><li>The long head also assists in extension and lateral rotation of the hip.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n<\/span><span class=\"block-heading\" id=\"header_3\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"title_collection title1\">Semitendinosus&nbsp;<\/h4>\n<\/span><span class=\"block-content\" id=\"contents_3\">\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As its name suggests, semitendinosus has a small tapered muscle belly and a long, cord-like tendon that inserts on the superior aspect of the tibia.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>It originates with the long head of bicep femoris and prior to its insertion, it is joined by the tendons of sartorius and gracilis to form a common tendon and attaches to the medial surface of the tibia.<\/li><li>It acts to <strong>flex the leg at the knee joint<\/strong> and <strong>extend it at the hip<\/strong>, as well as <strong>medially rotate<\/strong> it.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n<\/span><span class=\"block-heading\" id=\"header_4\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"title_collection title1\">Semimembranosus<\/h4>\n<\/span><span class=\"block-content\" id=\"contents_4\">\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Semimembranosus muscle has a more prominent muscle belly that lies deep to the semitendinosus muscle.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>It originates at the ischial tuberosity and inserts distally onto the medial tibial condyle.&nbsp;<\/li><li>Working with semitendinosus, it acts to <strong>flex and extend the leg at the knee and hip joints<\/strong> respectively.<ul><li>It also aids in <strong>medial rotation<\/strong> of the hip and knee joints.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n<\/span><div id=\"the_titles\" style=\"display:none;\"><h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Description<\/h4><h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bicep Femoris&nbsp;<\/h4><h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Semitendinosus&nbsp;<\/h4><h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Semimembranosus<\/h4><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Description The muscles of the posterior compartment share a common origin as the ischial tuberosity and act on both the hip and the knee joints, allowing extension and flexion at each joint, respectively. All muscles in the posterior compartment are innervated by the sciatic nerve. Bicep Femoris&nbsp; Bicep femoris has a short and a long [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":3970,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3977","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Posterior compartment &#8211; Meddists<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/meddists.com\/learn\/pre-clinical\/anatomy\/lower-limb\/thigh\/thigh-muscles\/posterior-compartment\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/meddists.com\\\/learn\\\/pre-clinical\\\/anatomy\\\/lower-limb\\\/thigh\\\/thigh-muscles\\\/posterior-compartment\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/meddists.com\\\/learn\\\/pre-clinical\\\/anatomy\\\/lower-limb\\\/thigh\\\/thigh-muscles\\\/posterior-compartment\\\/\",\"name\":\"Posterior compartment &#8211; 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