Anatomy study note · Abdomen

Rectus abdominis

A long strap muscle on each side of the linea alba along the whole length of the anterior abdominal wall, enclosed in the rectus sheath.

Key points

• Pubic symphysis + crest → costal cartilages 5–7 + xiphoid.
• Lower six thoracic nerves.
• Three tendinous intersections (fixed to the anterior sheath).
• Below the arcuate line all aponeuroses pass in front.
• Superior + inferior epigastric vessels anastomose in the sheath.
• Trunk muscles: from myotomes of the somites.
• Dorsal part → dorsal-ramus muscles; ventral part → ventral-ramus muscles.
• Skeletal muscle: multinucleated, peripheral nuclei, striated.
• Epimysium → perimysium → endomysium.

The full note in the atlas also covers

Features · Origin · Insertion · Action · Nerve supply · Histology · Development

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Written from

• Snell’s Clinical Anatomy by Regions, 10th ed., ch. 6, PDF pp. 700–702, 709–713
• Inderbir Singh’s Human Embryology, ch. 7, PDF pp. 108–109
• BRS Cell Biology & Histology, 7th ed., ch. 8, PDF pp. 135–144

More from the abdomen

• Renal arteries and veins
• Spleen
• Stomach
• Superficial epigastric vessels
• Superior mesenteric artery
• Suprarenal gland
• Testicular vessels
• Testis
• Transverse colon
• Transversus abdominis
• Umbilical cord
• Ureter

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