anatomy/femoral-artery·Artery
Femoral artery
Arteria femoralis
The main artery of the leg. You can feel its pulse in the groin; it supplies thigh, knee, lower leg and foot.
// Structure & location
The femoral artery begins below the inguinal ligament as the continuation of the iliac artery. It runs down the inside of the thigh between the quadriceps and the adductors and passes through a canal in the adductors into the back of the knee. There it is called the popliteal artery and splits into the arteries of the lower leg.
// Function
It delivers the blood for all the muscles of the leg. A large branch, the deep femoral artery, supplies the powerful thigh muscles.
// For training & sport
- In BFR training for the legs, the cuff sits at the top of the thigh, close to the groin.
- During leg exercises blood flow through this artery rises sharply to supply the large muscles.
// Good to know
Because of its size, an injury to this artery can bleed life-threateningly within a short time. In emergency medicine it is therefore compressed in the groin.
// Sources
last reviewed: 2026-11-14