Beginner’s Guide to the Knee
How is it already May? It seems like time is flying by this year and it’s nice that we’re slowly getting back to a sense of normalcy. As the weather is getting nicer, most people are getting outside to enjoy the weather and with that comes the usual aches and pains. This month we’ll take a deeper look into the knees including a quick rundown of the anatomy, common diagnoses, and lastly physical therapy treatment.
On the surface, the knee seems like a simple joint that just bends and straightens, but it’s actually one of the more complex and stable joints in the body. The stability of the joint is due to the numerous strong ligaments and various tendons and muscular attachments. The knee complex is made up of four bones the femur, tibia, fibula, and patella and has three separate joints the medial tibio-femoral, the lateral tibio-femoral, and the patellofemoral. The knee joint is capable of flexion and extension (bending and straightening), but also internal and external rotation when it’s bent to 90 degrees.
Located on top of the tibia, are the medial and lateral meniscus which are cartilage that act as shock absorbers. They vary in shapes with the lateral being O-shaped and the medial is C-shaped and together they cover two-thirds of the tibial plateau. The menisci bear up to 70% of the load through the knee.
There are many ligaments in the knee complex and provide to the overall stability of the joint. There are medial and lateral ligament complexes with the medial including: medial collateral (MCL), coronary, extensor retinaculum, meniscofemoral, and posterior oblique and the lateral including: lateral collateral (LCL), posterior capsular ligaments, extensor retinaculum, iliotibial band, and arcuate complex. The most commonly known knee ligaments are the anterior cruciate (ACL) and posterior cruciate ligaments (PCL). These two ligaments cross over each other in the joint and prevent anterior and posterior glide respectively.
It has 12 muscles that cross the joint including the quadriceps: rectus femoris, vastus medialis, vastus intermedius, and vastus lateralis, the hamstrings: biceps femoris, semimembranosus, semitendinosus, gracilis, sartorius, plantaris, popliteus, and gastrocnemius.
Make sure to check back throughout the month to learn more about the knee including common diagnoses and physical therapy treatments.
If you are interested in learning more or about treatment options, don’t hesitate to call/text 701-318-4731 or email connectptnd@gmail.com to learn how we can help. Don’t forget to follow on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date on the happenings at Connect Physical Therapy.
- Alison Fuhrman, PT, DPT, CMPT, OCS