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2.2.1 Bony features of the knee joint
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(3.12)

In this section, we’ll look at the knee. First we’ll look at the bones, then the knee joint and how it moves, then the muscles that move it, and lastly the vessels and nerves. Let’s see the bones, starting with the femur.

We saw the proximal end of the femur in the last section. Now let’s look at the distal end.

The two smoothly curved surfaces are the lateral condyle and the medial condyle. The deep notch which separates them is the intercondylar notch. Above the two condyles are the epicondyles, lateral and medial. The sharp corner on the medial epicondyle is the adductor tubercle. This prominent ridge is the medial supracondylar line, this one is the lateral supracondylar line. Now we’ll add the tibia and the fibula to the picture.

The tibia and the fibula are fixed to each other firmly by two joints, the proximal, and distal tibio-fibular joints. There’s almost no movement at either of these joints. Let’s take a look at the proximal end of the tibia.

This is the medial condyle, this is the lateral condyle. On top of the two condyles are two quite separate articular surfaces. They’re much flatter than those on the femur. The rugged expanse between the articular surfaces is the inter-articular area. This prominent lump on the front, the tibial tubercle, is the final insertion of the quadriceps tendon. The small facet under here is for the fibula, which we'll add.

This is the head of the fibula, this is the neck. The head of the fibula is the point of attachment of a major ligament of the knee joint, as we’ll see.

The space on each side of the knee between the femoral condyle and the tibial condyle is occupied by a crescent shaped piece of cartilage, a ...

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(3.12)

In this section, we’ll look at the knee. First we’ll look at the bones, then the knee joint and how it moves, then the muscles that move it, and lastly the vessels and nerves. Let’s see the bones, starting with the femur.

We saw the proximal end of the femur in the last section. Now let’s look at the distal end.

The two smoothly curved surfaces are the lateral condyle and the medial condyle. The deep notch which separates them is the intercondylar notch. Above the two condyles are the epicondyles, lateral and medial. The sharp corner on the medial epicondyle is the adductor tubercle. This prominent ridge is the medial supracondylar line, this one is the lateral supracondylar line. Now we’ll add the tibia and the fibula to the picture.

The tibia and the fibula are fixed to each other firmly by two joints, the proximal, and distal tibio-fibular joints. There’s almost no movement at either of these joints. Let’s take a look at the proximal end of the tibia.

This is the medial condyle, this is the lateral condyle. On top of the two condyles are two quite separate articular surfaces. They’re much flatter than those on the femur. The rugged expanse between the articular surfaces is the inter-articular area. This prominent lump on the front, the tibial tubercle, is the final insertion of the quadriceps tendon. The small facet under here is for the fibula, which we'll add.

This is the head of the fibula, this is the neck. The head of the fibula is the point of attachment of a major ligament of the knee joint, as we’ll see.

The space on each side of the knee between the femoral condyle and the tibial condyle is occupied by a crescent shaped piece of cartilage, a meniscus, which we’ll see shortly. The space in the middle, the intercondylar notch is occupied by the two cruciate ligaments. The intercondylar notch and its contents divide the knee joint into two almost separate halves.

There’s one more bone to add to the picture, the patella, or kneecap. The patella, as we’ll see, is embedded within the quadriceps tendon, which comes from up here, and inserts on the tibia down here on the tibial tubercle. On the back of the patella the articular surface is divided into facets. These articulate either with the femoral condyles when the knee is flexed, or with this central articular area when it’s extended.

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