ANATOMY OF KNEE JOINT In this presentation of " Anatomy of Knee Joint" you will know about structures present in Knee Joint. Bones, Joints, Ligaments, Muscles, Mechanism of movements of Knee Joint, Nerve and Blodd supply of Knee Joint.

1. DR.SONAL MORE
B.A.M.S,PGDEMS,M.D
YOGA,CGO.CCH,SVD,
Pursuing M.Sc in Counselling
and Family Therapy.

2. - The Knee Joint is the largest.
- Most complicated joint in the body.
- Most superficial joint.
- Hinge type of synovial joint.

3. Why Complicated Joint ?

4. BONES JOINTS LIGAMENTS
TENDONS MUSCLES NERVES
BLOOD
VESSELS
KNEE JOINT
consist of

6. ANATOMIC ORIENTATION TERMS
• Closer to the midline
MEDIAL
• Away from the midline
LATERAL
• Front side
ANTERIOR
• Back side of the knee
POSTERIOR

7. Femur
Tibia
Patella
BONES involve in knee joint are

8. FIBULA is not involve directly in the Joint

9. Knee joint is Synovial joint
enclosed by ligament
capsule and contains a
fluid called Synovial fluid
that lubricates the joint

10. It consists of 3 Joints within a
single synovial cavity :
• Medial Condylar Joint : Between the medial condyle
“of the femur” & the medial condyle “of the tibia” .
•Lateral Condylar Joint : Between the lateral condyle
“of the femur” & the lateral condyle “of the tibia” .
•Patellofemoral Joint : Between the patella & the
patellar surface of the femur .

13. • Condyles of Femur rest on the top surface
of Tibia. This surface is called as “TIBIAL
PLATEAU”.
• Outside half : outside of knee is Lateral tibial
plateau
Inside half : close to the other knee is Medial
tibial plateau.
• Patella glides on special groove formed by
two femoral condyles called Patello femoral
groove.

14. ARTICULAR CARTILAGE
• Articular Cartilages are material that
covers ends of bones of the joints .
• These are 6.35mm or 1 quarter inch thick
in most large joints.
• It is white shiny with rubbery consistency.
• Articular cartilages are slippery
substance that allows the surfaces to slide
against one another without damage to
either surface .

15. • Function of articular cartilage
is to absorb shock and
provide extremely smooth
surface to facilitate motion.
• Articular cartilage are
present everywhere where
two bony surfaces moves
against one another were
articulate.
• In the knee Articular
cartilage covers the ends of
femur, top of the tibia and
back of the patella.

16. LIGAMENTS
LIGAMENTS are tough ,fibrous
bands of tissues that connects ends
of bones together.
Two important ligaments are found
on either side of the Knee joint.
They are :
1. Medial Collateral Ligament
[MCL]
2. Lateral Collateral Ligament
[LCL]

17. • Is a broad band that
extends from the
medial femoral
epicondyle to the
medial tibial condyle.
• Also called as Tibial
collateral ligament
MEDIAL COLLATERAL LIGAMENT

18. • Extends between the lateral femoral epicondyle and the
head of the fibula.
• Also called as Fibula collateral ligament.
LATERAL COLLATERAL LIGAMENT

20. •Inside the Knee joint two other important ligaments
are stretched between the femur and tibia.
•They are
1. Anterior Cruciate Ligament in the front [ACL]
2. Posterior Cruciate Ligament in the back.[PCL]

21. - The weaker of the two cruciate
ligaments .
- Arise from the anterior
intercondylar area of the
femur , just posterior to the
attachment of medial
meniscus intercondylar area
of tibia .
- The ACL has a relatively poor
blood supply.
The Anterior Cruciate Ligament

22. - The stronger of the two cruciate
ligaments.
- Arises from the posterior
intercondylar area of the tibia
THE POSTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT

23. •MCL and LCL prevent the Knee to move too far in a side to side
direction.
•ACL and PCL controls front and back motion of Knee joint.
•ACL keeps tibia sliding too far forward in relation to the Femur.
•PCL keeps the tibia sliding too backward in relation to femur..
•Ligaments all taken together are most important structures
controlling stability of the Knee.

26. MENISCI
• Two special types of Ligaments called
“MENISCI” sit between the femur and tibia.
•They are :
1. Lateral Menisci
2. Medial Menisci
• These structures are sometimes referred as
the cartilages of the Knee joint.
• But Menisci are different from articular
cartilages that covers the surface of the joint.

30. Imagine ball resting on plate. Here ball is
condyles of the femur and flat plate is the tibial
plateau.
Menisci actually wrap around round the condyles
to fill the space between it and flat tibial plateau.
• The menisci act like a gasket helping to
distribute the weight from the Femur to the tibia.
•Without the menisci any weight on the Femur
will be concentrated to one point of the tibia.
• With a Menisci weight is spread across the tibial
surface.

31. • Without the Menisci the concentration of force into a small area on the Articular
cartilage can damage the surface leading to the degeneration overtime.
•In addition to protect the Articular cartilage the menisci help the ligament in
stability of Knee joint.
• Menisci make the Knee joint more stable by acting like a ‘Wedge Shape’ set
against the bottom of the condyle..
• The Menisci are thicker around the outside and its thickness helps to keep the
round Femur from rolling on the flat tibia.
• The Menisci convert the tibial surface into a shallow socket.
And the socket is more stable, more efficient in transmitting weight from the
upper body .

32. • Menisci enhances the stability of the knee and protect the
articular cartilage from excessive concentration of force.
• Taken altogether ligaments of the Knee joint are the most
Important structures to stabilize the joint.
 Remember : Ligaments connects bones to bones
Without strong and tight ligaments to connect Femur to
Tibia Knee joint would be too loose .

33. •The Quadriceps femoris muscle, commonly
known as the quad muscle, is the strongest muscle
of the human body.
•It is located in the anterior compartment of the
thigh, together with the Sartorius.
•The quadriceps femoris muscle translates to
“four-headed muscle” from Latin.
•It bears this name because it consists of four
individual muscles; RECTUS FEMORIS, VASTUS
MEDIALIS, VASTUS LATERALIS, AND VASTUS
INTERMEDIUS.
MUSCLES

35. •Out of all four muscles, only the
rectus Femoris crosses both
the hip and knee joints.
•Others cross only the knee joint
and these muscles differ in their
origin, but share a common
Quadriceps femoris tendon which
inserts into the patella.
•The function of the quadriceps
femoris muscle is to extend
the leg at the knee joint and to flex
the thigh at the hip joint.

36. •There are three muscles in the posterior compartment of the thigh:
the biceps femoris and two synergistic muscles (the
semitendinosus and semimembranosus). These muscles are
termed the hamstring group.
•The posterior region of the thigh displays similarity with the
anterior region of the upper arm in both structure and function.
•Biceps Femoris: A similar muscle to the biceps brachii in the upper
arm and also double-headed. Two synergistic muscles are
associated with the biceps femoris, the semitendinosus and the
semimembranosus.
Posterior Muscles

40. OTHER MUSCLES

41. TENDONS
• Tendons are similar to ligaments .
Except the tendons attached
muscles to the bones.
• Quadriceps tendon connects the
large quadriceps muscles of the
thigh to the Patella.

42. • This tendon continues across the
Patella over Patella and blends into
the Patellar Tendon.
• Patellar tendon connects the
Patella to the Tibia.

43. • The Extensor Mechanism is a motor that drives in the Knee and allows us
to walk.
• It sits in front of the Knee joint and is made up of Patella,Patellor tendon,
Quadriceps tendon and Quadriceps muscles.
• When these muscles contract they straight the Knee joint such as when
you get up from squatting postion.
• The way in which Patella fits into the Patellofemoral groove on the front of
the Femur and slides as the Knee bends affects overall function of knee.
• Patella increases the force exerting by the Quadriceps muscle as the Knee
straightens.
•Hamstring muscles contract and the Knee bends

45. musclemovement
Biceps femoris
Semitendinosus
Semimembranosus
Gracilis
Sartorius
Popliteus
Flexion 120 -150
Quadriceps femorisExtension 5 -10
Biceps femorisExternal rotation 30 -40
Sartorius
Gracilis
Semtendinosus
Popliteus
Semimembranosus
Internal rotation 10

46. NERVES

47. •The nerves around the knee are motor (move muscles) and
sensory
(allow you to feel what is h appening).
The sensory nerves supply the joint itself as well as the skin
over the knee.
•Many muscles have both motor and sensory functions.

48. SCIATIC NERVE
• (L4,5, S1,2,3) is a large nerve which runs down the back of the
leg. It is made up of the tibial and common peroneal nerves
which branch at different
levels of the leg in different people.
• The sciatic nerve splits into the tibial and common peroneal
nerves above the knee.
• The tibial nerve supplies the hamstring muscles (which bend
the knee). It also supplies the muscles in the back of the calf
• The common peroneal nerve supplies the front compartments
of the leg

50. TIBIAL NERVE
• iIis the larger of the two branches of the sciatic nerve and
runs down the back of the knee.

51. • The common peroneal nerve is one of two major branches
of the sciatic nerves within the buttocks and into the thighs,
along with the tibial nerves.
• It travels outside of Knee and down the front of the leg and
foot.
COMMON PERONEAL NERVE

53. BLOOD SUPPLY
The Femoral artery and the popliteal artery forms artery
network surrounding the knee joint ,
There are 6 main branches :
1.Superior medial genicular artery
2.Superior lateral genicular artery
3.Inferior medial genicular artery
4.Inferior lateral genicular artery
5.Descending genicular artery branch from the
femoral artery
6.Recurrent branch of anterior tibial artery
The medial genicular arteries penetrate the knee joint
Branch from
poplitealartery

56. KNEE has a unstable and complicated design yet it support
the Body’s bone weight in standing and much more than
that during walking and running.