Technical Tuesday
Gracilis
The gracilis muscle
extends from the groin to the upper shaft of the tibia (shinbone). It is one of
those often discussed “inner thigh muscles”.
This muscle assists with
bending the knee (think pliés), stabilizing the knee, and is responsible for
hip adduction - moving from the outside
toward the center of the body – for example: taking the leg from à la seconde to attitude devant. (Hint: To remember what adduction
means think of “adding” to the
center of the body). You also use this muscle every day when you cross your legs.
There are four other
muscles, besides the gracilis that assist in hip adduction: pectineus, adductor brevis, adductor longus,
and the adductor magnus. But I’ll
save those for another day.
There is a nerve that supplies
this muscle: the obturator nerve. If it is impinged (pinched) it can cause pain
that radiates from the hip to the knee.
From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:
Anatomical Secret # 31
“The gracilis is one of the ‘inner thigh muscles’.”
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