Inferior rectus
Musculus rectus inferior
Sensory (eye & ear)Deep musclesHeadLeft and right
View left in 3D View right in 3D
- What it is
- A flat strap muscle arising from the common tendinous ring at the orbit apex and running forward along the orbital wall to insert by a thin, broad, white tendon on the sclera in front of the equator.
- Function
- Depresses the eye (mainly when it looks outward) and also turns it in and rotates it outward (extorsion).
- Size
- ~40 mm long; inserts ~6.5 mm from the limbus.
- Clinical note
- It can be trapped in a blow-out fracture of the orbital floor, preventing upward gaze and causing double vision; enlarged in thyroid eye disease.