To isolate the function of and test the medial and lateral rectus muscles, a patient is asked to track a physician’s finger medially and laterally, respectively, in the horizontal plane (Fig. 8.97B).
The oblique muscles are in the superior and inferior parts of the orbit, do not originate from the common tendinous ring, are angular in their approaches to the eyeball, and, unlike the rectus muscles, attach to the posterior half of the eyeball (Table 8.8).