Also known as your quadriceps or thigh muscle, your rectus femoris is one of the major muscles that make up the area along the front of your leg between your knee and hip. The rectus femoris is responsible for extensions at the hip and knees. You...
The rectus femoris is one of four quadricep muscles located on the front part of your thigh. Unlike the other three muscles — the vastus lateralis, medialis and intermedius — the rectus femoris crosses two joints, your hip and your...
The rectus femoris muscle is one of the four muscles that makes up the quadriceps muscle. The muscle runs up the middle of the thigh, connecting from the knee to the hipbone. The rectus femoris is responsible for straightening the leg and for...
The rectus femoris muscle of your quadriceps is engaged even when you do hanging leg raises for your abdominal muscles. This is the only muscle of your four quadricep muscles that attaches across your hip joints and your knee joints. All the...
The rectus femoris -- a member of the quadriceps muscle group -- originates on your pelvis just above your hip socket, runs down the length of your upper leg, and inserts into the base of the knee cap and the tibia bone of your bottom lower leg....
The rectus femoris muscle is your primary quadriceps muscle and runs from your hipbone to your shinbone. It is the only muscle of your quads to cross two joints. You can work the rectus femoris by extending your knee to straighten your leg or...
The quadriceps muscles make up much of the anterior, or front side, of the thigh. The four muscles of the quadriceps are the rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus intermedius and the vastus medialis. While the quadriceps muscles work in...
Lunges are a compound exercise, which articulate your knee and hip joints and activate over 10 different muscles in your lower body. The primary muscles used in lunges are your quadriceps. Each quadricep muscle comprises four smaller muscle...
The quadriceps femoris, more commonly referred to as the quadriceps or quads, is a group of four muscles at the front of the thigh. Individually, the muscles are called the rectus femoris, the vastus lateralis, the vastus medialis and the vastus...
A hip pointer injury most commonly describes a trauma to the top portion of the pelvis's iliac crest and resulting muscle bruise. The muscles that can be involved include the sartorious, abdominals, tensor fascia lata, and rectus femoris. A hip...
Although most healthy individuals take it for granted, walking -- even on a flat surface -- is biomechanically quite complicated. There are phases where you support your body weight on one leg, phases where you distribute your weight with both...
The act of riding a bicycle strengthens your stomach muscles. It is your core that balances you while on a bicycle. Without your abdominal muscles contracting to hold you in the saddle, you would not be able to keep the bike upright. This...
Quad is the shorthand word used to describe the large quadriceps muscle found on the front of the thigh. You can easily feel this muscle working by sitting in a chair and extending your leg straight out in front of you. Being that the root word...
The hip flexor muscles are attached to the hip joint to allow the femur, which is the upper leg bone, to flex onto the pelvis region. In simpler terms, the hip flexor muscles allow the knee to pull up. The hip is a large, deep and stable ball and...
Crunches are a common exercise used to develop the muscles in your stomach. When completed on a consistent basis, crunches can improve the strength and tone of the front of your torso, which can improve your posture and prevent back pain. A group...
Running is an easily accessible form of aerobic activity that is practiced both recreationally and competitively. You can run anywhere, and the only equipment required is running shoes. Running specifically targets the muscles of your lower body....
The lunge is a compound movement that works a variety of muscle groups in one exercise. The lunge targets the quadriceps, the major muscle group at the front of your legs. Your quadriceps are a large muscle and responsible for enabling your body...
Although often referred to as a collective, your quadriceps is actually a group of four muscles: the rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus intermedius and vastus medialis. The quadriceps' primary function is knee extension, or straightening a...
Climbing stairs or ladders may cause leg pain, and while this pain often subsides immediately, in some cases it may indicate a more serious injury. A muscle strain in one or more of the quadriceps muscles represent the most common cause of leg...
Squats are an exercise that involves lifting weights upon your shoulders and conducting a series of squatting movements. This strengthens your legs, especially the group of four muscles above your knee called the quadriceps. The quadriceps muscles...
Moving your entire body from one floor to another requires a lot of muscle. All of the muscles of the leg are used. Some move across only one joint, and others, like the hamstring, move across two. Whether you're just going from the first floor to...
Stairs are challenging, whether you are running up and down at home or are on a machine at the gym for cardio. Stairs use the large muscles in your lower body, raising your heart rate and burning calories. If you are not used to doing stairs, they...
Strength-training exercises, such as leg extensions, strengthen and tone specific muscle. Some strength exercises target several muscle groups, while other exercises, like leg extensions, target only one muscle group. Leg extension exercises...
Your hip flexors allow your thigh to move toward your pelvic region. When you move your thigh to your abdomen, for instance, several muscles perform hip flexion. You engage your hip flexors during everyday activities such as walking. Major muscles...
The situp has largely been supplanted by the crunch in recent years. Most people performed the situp to work the muscles of the abdomen — and the crunch more effectively isolates those muscles. So for bodybuilders, eight-time Mr. Olympia...
The double leg lift is a very intense core exercise. It's also versatile for a bodyweight exercise, in that you can adjust the difficulty by performing the movement on the ground, on a slanted abdominal board or even hanging. But to get the full...
The stepmill is like a miniature escalator. Because they take up so much space, it can be difficult to find a gym that has them, but if you're lucky enough to have access to one, you're in for an intense aerobic workout. In fact, the...
Your four quadriceps are on the fronts of your thighs. Three of these muscles -- the vastus medialis, vastus intermedius and vastus lateralis -- originate on your thighbone and attach to your kneecap. The fourth muscle, the rectus femoris, also...
The hip flexors are deep muscles that lie across the front of your hip near the spine. Like a rubber band or spring, a muscle is shorter when it is not stretched. When muscles stay short, or contracted, over a long period of time, they gradually...
Treat and strengthen a pulled quad muscle using a few simple steps. Learn how to treat sports injuries in this video on health and rehab.
A Baker's cyst is inflamed tissue in the joints in the back of the knee. Learn how to treat a Baker's cyst from a certified personal trainer in this health video.
