Take a Knee!
Football season is about to begin. You may recall, when a player’s knee hits the ground and he’s touched by a defender, play is called dead. Often the quarterback “takes a knee” to stop the clock. But this post is not about football! Rather a look at our marvelous and incredible knees, the mid-point of our lower extremities — the runner’s drive train. Since knees are the most common site of running injuries, it’s worth reviewing how they function. Pictured below, the knee is the largest joint in the body. The knee actually has three joints: the tibiofemoral (largest, lying between our thigh and lower leg and generally thought of as the knee joint), the patellofemoral (kneecap), and the tibiofibular (below the kneecap and not directly part of the knee movement.) I’ll focus first on the tibiofemoral joint here, which functions as a hinge. Unlike the hip joint, where there is significant bony structure, most of the knee’s stability comes from soft tissue – ligaments, tendons, muscles, cartilage, menisci, bursa, and fat pads. This constitution allows for significant range of motion – for example, we can bend our knee to touch our butt with our foot. When looking at knee … Continue reading