Thigh

In humans the thigh is the area between the pelvis and buttocks and the knee. Anatomically, it is part of the lower limb.

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There is one bone in the thigh called the femur. This bone is very thick and strong (due to the high proportion of cortical bone), and forms a ball and socket joint at the hip, and a condylar joint at the knee.

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In cross-section, the thigh is divided up into three fascial compartments. These compartments are the femur as an axis, and are separated by tough connective tissue membranes (or septa). Each of these compartments has its own blood and nerve supply, and contains a different group of muscles.

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Anterior compartment

This contains the flexors of the hip, and extensors of the knee, such as the quadriceps femoris. These muscles are supplied by the femoral nerve and the femoral artery.

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Medial compartment

The obturator nerve supplies the hip adductors in this compartment. Muscles include adductor longus, adductor brevis and gracilis.

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Posterior compartment

The muscles here are the hamstrings. These muscles flex the knee, and extend the hip. This compartment is sciatic nerve territory.

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Pelvis: The pelvis is the bony structure located at the base of the spine (properly known as the caudal end). The pelvis incorporates the socket portion of the hip joint for each leg (in bipeds) or hind leg (in quadrupeds). It forms the lower limb (or hind-limb) girdle of the skeleton....

Buttock: The buttocks (often called butt in colloquial American speech and arse in British speech) are rounded portions of the anatomy located on the posterior of the pelvic region of the great apes, including humans. The buttocks are formed by the masses of the two gluteal muscles; the gluteus maximus and ...

Knee: In human anatomy, the knee is the leg joint connecting the femur and the tibia....