Compartment

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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Why is the concept of compartments important?

The joint cartilage may be damaged in one compartment independently of the others. If it is recognised early, and there is appropriate intervention (such as a unicompartmental knee replacement) then it may prevent any changed forces in the knee from affecting the other compartments.

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