The adductor tubercle is a small bony prominence on the superomedial aspect of the medial femoral condyle, just above the medial epicondyle. It is the distal attachment of the adductor magnus muscle (its tendinous part running from the ischial tuberosity). The saphenous nerve and the articular branch of the descending genicular artery pass adjacent to it as they exit the adductor canal.
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| Ossification | Lies on the distal femoral epiphysis close to the physis, which ossifies from a centre present near birth and fuses at about 16-19 years. |
The adductor tubercle is the key landmark for identifying the adductor magnus tendon and the adductor canal exit in surgery and in anatomical injection studies. Saphenous nerve block at the adductor canal level uses the adductor tubercle as a distal reference. In medial approach knee surgery, identification of the adductor tubercle orients the surgeon to the medial condyle anatomy. Adductor tubercle avulsion by the adductor magnus tendon occurs in high-energy knee injuries.
Slide your hand down the inner side of the thigh to the knee. Follow the cord of the adductor magnus tendon down to where it ends on a small, sharp bony bump at the top of the medial femoral condyle; this is the adductor tubercle. Asking the person to squeeze the knees together makes the tendon easier to follow.
Forceful knee valgus or hip adductor overload may avulse the adductor magnus tendon from the adductor tubercle, producing medial thigh and knee pain with a palpable gap at the superomedial condyle, managed conservatively in most cases with physiotherapy and protected weight-bearing.
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