PATHOLOGIES OF THE KNEE NEWS

Knee Anatomy:

There are four bones in the knee, the tibia (shin bone), fibula (outside of the lower leg), femur (upper leg bone) and patella (knee cap). They are held together by four main ligaments, your anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments (ACL,PCL), and your lateral and medial collateral ligaments (MCL, LCL).

There is a cresent shaped, cartilagagenous structure that lies in between the tibia and fibula called a meniscus. It is made up of two parts, your medial (inside) and lateral (outside) meniscus. Your menesci serve to absorb shock and to stabilize the knee.

Articular cartilage is found in all joints of the body. It covers the ends of "articulating" bones, allowing then to glide smoothly across one another. In the case of the knee, it is found on the end of the tibia and femur and behind the knee cap.

Tendons are abundant when talking about the knee. The patellar tendon is a combination of all four of your quadriceps muscles. It surrounds the back of the knee cap and attaches into the front of the shin bone (just below the knee cap). The adductor group serve to bring the knee towards the body and attach at various points on the inner knee. The idiotically band is a major part of the outside of the knee. It starts at the hip and ends on the side of the tibia. Your idiotically band is actually made up of fascia and therefore cannot contract. It does however work closely with your tensor fascia Plata muscle. Your hamstrings, which start from the bone in your bum and end on the medial and lateral sides of your tibia.

Bursa are fluid filled sacs located around joints in order to reduce friction between the tissues and bone. There are four major bur sea of the knee: the pre patellar (most commonly injured), suffragette, superficial infra patellar, and deep infra patellar.

Conditions Of The Knee

ACL Injury: Your anterior cruciate ligament or ACL goes from the the back of the tibia to the front of the femur. It protects against excessive forward pressure on the knee.