Video and Transcript: The Anatomy of Knee Bones, Knee Ligaments, and Knee Muscles

Hi. My name is Dr. Orit Hickman and I'm a physical therapist and the owner of Pain Science Physical Therapy. Today's video is going to focus on the anatomy of the knee joint. And, this is in preparation for me talking about a very common knee diagnosis called Patellofemoral Syndrome, which I'll talk about in the next video. 

So, the first thing we're going to talk about is what’s the knee joint actually made out of. So, the knee -- first of all, a joint is anywhere that two bones meet. The knee joint actually has three bones that are a part of it, or three main bones that are a part of it. So, this is actually -- it's actually a right knee model and this is your femur, the end of your femur bone, which is your thigh bone. This is your tibia, your lower leg bone. And then, there's your patella, your kneecap. And, I don't know if you can see this real well, but your patella is a floating bone and it actually sits in this little groove that's formed at the end of the femur. 

So, one of the most common movements that your knee joint does is it bends. It's kind of like a hinge. And, that patella will slide in that groove a little bit and stay positioned pretty close to it. Straightening your knee, that action is done by your quadriceps muscles, which is your thigh muscle. And, bending your knee is done by your hamstrings, which are the muscles in the back.

Your knee joint also has four ligaments. Ligaments connect bones to each other. It's a piece of connective tissue. They're not meant to be stretchy. They actually check or control for movement. You have four main ligaments in the knee. You have your MCL or your medial collateral ligament. Your LCL, which is your lateral collateral ligament. And then, in the knee joint, you actually have two ligaments that cross each other from front to back. One is your ACL or your anterior cruciate ligament, and the other is your PCL, which comes from back, your posterior cruciate ligament. So, this, your ACL, comes from the front part, the front part of the knee, and drives back to the back of the joint. And, the PCL comes from the back of the joint and dives to the front of the joint. All four ligaments together help to control movement and prevent the knee from moving too far from the femur, moving too far away from the tibia, and from the tibia moving too far away from the femur. 

So, that's just a quick video on the anatomy of the knee joint. Feel free to let me know if you thought that was helpful. And, I would really appreciate a thumbs-up if you think so or any kind of comments. Have a great day!