They pass backward near the linea aspera of the femur underneath the small tendinous arches of the adductor magnus muscle.

The first perforating artery (a. perforans prima) passes posteriorly between the pectineus and adductor brevis (sometimes it perforates the latter); it then pierces the adductor magnus close to the linea aspera.

It gives branches to the adductores brevis and magnus, biceps femoris, and gluteus maximus, and anastomoses with the inferior gluteal, medial and lateral femoral circumflex and second perforating arteries.

The second perforating artery (a. perforans secunda), larger than the first, pierces the tendons of the adductores brevis and magnus, and divides into ascending and descending branches, which supply the posterior femoral muscles, anastomosing with the first and third perforating.

This article incorporates text in the public domain from page 631 of the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)