Question

Describe the anatomical structure of the knee and why it is the most commonly injured joint of the body.

Answer 1

Hi Answer:

Q. Describe the anatomical structure of the knee and why it is the most commonly injured joint of the body.

Answer:

Before moving towards the anatomy of the Knee first of all we briefly understand the work, structure and bending pattern of our Knee joint. A knee seems to be a very simple joint but it is one of the most complex and largest joints of the body in which two bones one bone is sitting on another bone and it has maximum movement and it carries whole body weight. The bones are linked together with help of muscles, ligaments, tendons, and cartilages.

The knee is the most commonly injured joint: As discussed above in knee joint one bone is sitting on the body and it has to perform lots of activity. This joint has lots of muscles, ligaments, tendons, and cartilages are present which stabilizes the bone position. When we are running and playing these all things get high stress and any breakdown or problem in any one of the component causes the injury in the knee joint. Due to the excessive and stress on these components, the knee joint got injured very commonly.

Anatomical structure of knee: The knee joint is a synovial joint that it contains the synovial fluid which lubricates the movement of the knee joint. The structure of knee joint is given below which shows the main anatomical structure of bones which contains bones, cartilages, tendons, and muscle.

(A) Knee bones: In the knee join three main bones are joint together i.e. Femur (biggest bone of body), Tibia and Fibula and the anterior bone named as Patella (Kneecap) which covers the interior surface of the joint. The position of these bones is shown in Figure below:

(B) Knee cartilages: The cartilages are the white stiff connective tissue and it is present the bony surface and protect the bone upper surface during the joint movement. It also acts as shock absorber. In knee, there is two type of cartilages are present i.e. the smooth Articular cartilage which covers the head of femur and tibia bones and the second is the menisci cartilage which presents on the articular cartilage of tibia bone. The cartilage positions are shown in the figure below:

(C)Tendons of Knee: These are the fibrous connective tissues which attach muscles to the bones. Two types of tendons are present in knee i.e. Quadriceps tendon and The patellar tendon. The position of these tendons is shown in the figure below:

(iv).K (D) Knee Ligaments: These ligaments tighten the bones of the knee with each other. If ligaments are absent then the knee bones    will be very loose and cannot move properly. Knee has 4 types of ligaments. i.    The Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) c ated    inside the knee joint, in front of the Posterior Cruciate Ligament (PCL). It prevents the excessive forward movement of the tibia b    one. Or in short, it holds the tibia bone.ii.   The Posterior Cruciate ligament (PCL) is located inside the knee joint, posterior to the ACL. Its prevent the excessive backward movement of the tibia. Its work is just opposite to the ACL. iii. The Medial co llateral Ligament (MCL) extends from the medial side of the femur down the tibia. Together with the Lateral Cruciate Ligament, it prevents excessive motions of the knee joint by limiting joint mobility in the side-to-side direction.iv.    The Lateral Collateral Ligament (LCL) extends from the lateral side of the femur down to the lateral fibula. Together with the MCL, it prevents excessive motions of the knee joint by limiting joint mobility in the side-to-side direction.The detailed structure and positions of various ligaments are shown in the figure below:

(E)Knee muscles: Knee has quadriceps and hamstrings muscles. The quadriceps muscles on the top of the anterior side of the femur. This muscle helps extension motion of the knee. Whereas the hamstrings muscles are present at the posterior side of the femur. These muscles help in the knee bending. The position of these two muscles is shown below: