The patella - important anatomical relationships

The patella is a bone within a tendon - the tendon of the long quadriceps muscle that spans the region from the hip to the shinbone. The illustration on the right shows one part of the quadriceps muscle (the rectur femoris part) and you can see the patella within its tendon just at the knee joint.

The fat pad is a normal structure in the knee. It is literally composed of fat and is bright yellow in colour and exists below the patella (kneecap) just behind the patellar tendon. In this position it buffers any shocks to the front of the knee, but itself commonly suffers injury and problems related to the fat pad are not uncommon.