Medwiki

L03 MSK Anatomy 1 Bones and Joints of the Lower Limb

Anatomy 1 Bones and Joints of the Lower Limb

Status: v103 Time: 2025-03-24 Tags: lecturenotes MSK Anatomy Links: The Lower Limb

Flashcards

Content:

Objectives:

  • Identification of the lower limb bones
  • Recognise important landmarks on the lower limb bones
  • Ligaments supporting the lower limb bones
  • Understand the clinical and functional anatomy of
    • The hip
    • Knee
    • Ankle joint complex

Take 1

Overview of bones forming the lower limb:

sacrum and coccyx pelvic bones femur patella tibia fibula tarsl metatarsal phalanges

Hip/innominate bone

Ligaments

Gateways

Hip joint

Acetabular labrum

fibrocarilagenous ring attached tothe bony acetabular ring

Capsule and ligaments
blood supply to hip joint

Medial circumflex femoral arteries

Lateral circumflex femoral artery

obturator artery

retinacular arteries (branches of MCFA and LCFA)

knee joint

synovial bicondylar

made of condyles of femur tibia patella

special features: menisci

mcl is partially capsular and attached to meniscus

LCL is extracapsular

Take 2

Identification of the lower limb bones

  • hip
    • sacrum
    • coccyx
    • hip bone
  • lower limb
    • femur
    • patella
    • tibia
    • fibula
  • Foot
    • tarsals
      • talus
      • calcaneus
      • navicular
      • cuboid
      • medial intermediate and lateral cuneiform bones
    • 5 metatarsals
    • 14 phalanges

Recognise important landmarks on the lower limb bones

Landmarks of the Hip bone

anterior superior iliac spine anterior inferior iliac spine

posterior inferior iliac spine posterior superior iliac spine

iliac fossa gluteal surface

ischial spine

greater sciatic notch lesser sciatic notch

articular surface for sacroiliac joint articular surface for the pubic symphysis

pubic tubercle ischial tiuberosity obturator canal → obturator membrane on top of obturator foramen

acetabulum

Pelvic joints
  • Pelvic girdle
    • Description:
      • formed by 2 hip bones and sacrum
    • sacroiliac joint
      • Description:
        • ventrally synovial
          • supported by the anterior sacroiliac joint.
        • dorsally fibrous
          • strong interosseus sacroiliac ligament
          • posterior sacroiliac ligament
    • Pelvic symphysis:
      • description:
        • cartilaginous/fibrocartilaginous
        • supported by the superior/interior pubic ligaments and the pubic symphysis
Pelvic Ligaments

sacroilliac anterior sacroiliac interosseus sacroiliac ligament posterior sacroiliac ligament

these 2 crisscross to make greater and lesser sciatic foramen sacrospinous ligament sacrum to ischial spine sacrotuberous ligament posterior superior and inferior iliac spines and sacrum to ischial tuberosity

obturator obturator membrane

pubic symphysis inguinal ligement superior and inferior pubic ligaments

4 major entry and exit points to the lower limb greater and lesser sciatic foramen obturator canal gap between the inguinal ligament and the pelvic bone

Hip joint

synovial ball and socket joint components

  • head of femur
  • acetabulum of pelvic bone special feature: acetabular labrum

contact surface is between the head of the femur and the lunate surface. the head of the femur is held in place by the acetabular labrum as well as capsule and capsular ligaments

acetabular labrum attaches to the rim of the acetabulum labrum deepens the socket promoting congruency

blood supplied via acetabular branch of obturator artery. artery of the ligament of the head goes by the ligament of the head of the femur goes to the fovea capitis. all goes through the acetabular foramen created by the transverse acetabular ligament and the acetablar fossa

artery of the head of the femur supplies the epiphysis/ cartilage

medial and lateral circumflex arteries supply the neck of the femur and can be severed by a hip fracture

fracture types

image

Femur

landmarks: head of femur fovea neck of femur subcapital ares

greater trochanter lesser trochanter

intertrochanteric line intertrochanteric crest

linea aspera

medial and lateral circumflex supplies inferiorly to the epiphysial plate artery of the head of the femur superiorly to epiphyseal plate

Knee joint

synovial bicondylar joint components

  • femoral condyles
  • tibial condyles
  • patella special features: menisci (medial and lateral)

menisci are both Cshaped yet still allow contact between the articular cartilage of the epicondyles they improve join congruency which distributes axial load and allow shock absorption

the MCL is fused with the medial meniscus

stablizers of the knee joint include the ACL PCL MCL and LCL, as well as the patellar ligament and popliteal tendon

Bursae and fatpads

bursae reduce friction and fat pads cushion the joint

suprapatellar bursa connects to the knee joint cavity

patella can dislocate and the joint in general can be injured

Leg

Tibia articulates with the femur talus and fibula weight bearing forms the medial mallous anterior subcutaneous surface (forms the shin)

Fibula articulates with the tibia and talus no weight bearing function forms the lateral malleolus connected to the tibia with the superior and inferior tibiofibular joints as well as the interosseous membrane

the interossueam membrane holds tib fib together provides muscle attachment force transmission? and seperates the compartments

Ankle complex

Talocrural joint

the talocrural joint is a synovial hinge joint and as the components of the medial malleolus lateral malleolus, distal tibia and talus (trochlear surface) can only plantarflex and dorsiflex

Subtalar joint

complex joint with multiple surfaces components: talus and calcaneus movements are inversion and eversion

Talocalcaneonavicular joint

basically same as previous but with the navicular articular surfaces

Ligaments supporting ankle

Medial (prevents valgus force (abduction)) Deltoid ligament attaches to tibial malleolus one ligament but split into 4 parts per what it connects to

  • navicular
  • calcaneal
  • Anterior tibiotalar
  • Posterior tibiotalar (connects to the medial tubercle of the talus) Plantar calcaneonavicular ligament attaches the tuberosity of the navicular bone and the sustentaculum tali of the calcaneous bone

Lateral (prevents varus force (adduction)) 3 ligaments:

  • calcaneofibular ligament
  • anterior talofibular
  • posterior talofibular (Malleolar fossa)

Joints of the foot

Intertarsal: Plane synovial tarsometatarsal: plane synovial metatarsophalangeal: ellipsoid interphalangeal: hinge

Arches

3 Arches

  • transverse
  • medial
  • lateral Constructed from bone shape and ligaments function is to absorb shock and distribute force

Ligaments supporting the arches short plantar ligament long plantar ligement plantar aponeurosis

plantar calcaneonavicular ligament

Tibialis anterior and posterior tendons Fibularis longus tendon

Graph View