Knee Anatomy
Understanding knee anatomy, and the structures that make up the knee can help with injury prevention, as well as your injury treatment.
The knee is one of the most commonly injured joints in the body during sports activities. From ACL tears, to meniscus tears, knee injuries can often effect your ability to participate in sports.
Bones of the Knee
Your knee joint is made up of two bones, the femur (thigh bone) and the tibia (shin bone). These two bones touch each other and make up the tibio-femoral joint.
Another important joint in your knee is the patello-femoral joint. This is the articulation between the patella (knee-cap) and the femur. The patella is a small bone that is actually inside the quadriceps tendon, and helps provide extra leverage for the quadriceps muscles when straightening the knee. Both the tibio-femoral and patello-femoral joints are commonly injured in sports activities.
Ligaments of the Knee
Ligaments are connective tissue that connects bones to other bones, and are an important part of knee anatomy.
There are four major ligaments in your knee. The medial collateral ligament (MCL), the lateral collateral ligament (LCL), the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), and the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL).
The joint capsule is another connective tissue structure that surrounds your knee joint. Out of the major ligaments, the ACL and MCL are the most commonly injured with sports activities.
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Cartilage of the Knee
Another important part of knee anatomy is the cartilage. There are two types of cartilage within your knee joint, fibrocartilage and articular cartilage.The fibrocartilage in your knee is called
the meniscus, and there are two pieces, the medial meniscus
and the lateral meniscus.
The
meniscus is a thick, dense connective tissue that sits between your
tibia and femur. It helps to provide shock absorption and cushion
for your tibia and femur, as well as making your knee joint more
congruent.
Articular cartilage is a hard and very slick surface that lines the
ends of the bones where they articulate, or touch each other. This
helps to reduce friction between your bones during movement.
Meniscus
tears
are common sports injuries, and are often caused by twisting your knee.
Muscles of the Knee
There are many muscles that surround your knee joint. The thigh muscles, or quadriceps, are a group of four muscles that start at your hip, and extend down the front of your upper leg, inserting into the patellar tendon on the tibia, just below your kneecap. The quads straighten your knee out when you contract them.
The hamstrings, or muscles on the back of your thigh, are a group of three muscles that start at your hip and extend down the back of your upper leg. They insert on both the medial and lateral sides of your leg, just below the knee joint. The hamstrings bend your knee when you contract them.
Other muscles run along the inside and outside of your upper leg, and help to produce movement of the leg. These include: tensor fascia lattae, gracilis, sartorius, and the adductor group.
Tendons of the Knee
Tendons are connective tissue that attach muscles to bones. All muscles have tendons at their ends.The most important tendons in your knee are the patellar tendon, which extends from your patella (knee-cap) to your tibia, and the ilio-tibial band, which is the tendon for the tensor fascia lattae muscle, and runs along the outside of your upper leg, inserting on the fibula and tibia. These two tendons are commonly injured in sports activities.
Summary
All of the muscles, tendons, bones, ligaments, and cartilage work together to keep your knee functioning correctly. Understanding knee anatomy is the best start for preventing and treating knee injuries.Take the Knee Anatomy Video Tour
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