Compartment

A compartment of the knee is an area of articulation - the knee joint cavity is deemed to have three 'compartments'.

compartments of the knee
The dotted lines in the illustration are artificially cutting the femur and tibia in two, so that you can better appreciate the concept of medial and lateral tibio-femoral compartments.

 

The three compartments of the knee

The three compartments of the knee are:

  • the contact area between the femur and tibia bones on the inner (medial) side (medial compartment),
  • the contact area between the femur and tibia bones on the outer (lateral) side (lateral compartment),
  • the contact area between the patella (kneecap) and the femur bones (patellofemoral compartment).
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Related Content

The concept of arthritis compartments

An overview to help the reader understand issues of arthritis.

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CLINICAL PUBLICATIONS

Unloader Braces for Medial Compartment Knee Osteoarthritis - Implications on Mediating Progression. Ramsey DK, and Russell ME. Sports Health. 2009 Sep; 1(5): 416–426.

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