What are the muscles of the abdominal wall ?

Question

Are all these part of the abdominal wall ?

Rectus abdominis

external abdominal oblique

internal abdominal obilque

transverus abdominus

quadratus lumborum

Answer 1

Technically, the abdominal wall includes all sides, including the front (anterior), side (lateral) and back (posterior) portions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdominal_w...

Most of the time, people use the term to mean the only the anterior abdominal wall.  In that sense, quadratus lumborum (which is located in the back, along the spine) does not belong with the rest.

However, rectus abdominis (the "six-pack" muscles) is only found about 2 inches on either side of the midline.  So in med school when they teach the classical 9 layers of the abdominal wall, rectus abdominis is often not included:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdominal_w...

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

The muscles of the abdominal wall are

External oblique

Internal oblique

Transversus abdominis and

Rectus abdominis

and not the quadratus lumborum