The arcuate popliteal ligament is an Y-shaped extracapsular
ligament
A ligament is a type of fibrous connective tissue in the body that connects bones to other bones. It also connects flight feathers to bones, in dinosaurs and birds. All 30,000 species of amniotes (land animals with internal bones) have liga ...
of the
knee
In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...
.
It is formed as a thickening of the posterior fibres of the joint capsule of the knee.
It reinforces the knee joint capsule inferolaterally.
Anatomy
From its fibular attachment, the ligament extends superomedially over the tendon of the
popliteus muscle, spreading out
superficial to the posterior aspect of the tendon.
Attachments
Its inferior attachment is at the posterior aspect of the
head of the fibula
The fibula (: fibulae or fibulas) or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. ...
.
It has two superior attachments:
* The medial part of the ligament extends superficial to the tendon of popliteus muscle
to attach at the posterior part of the
intercondylar area of tibia.
* The lateral part forms a separate band that extends to the posterior part of
the
lateral condyle of femur
The lateral condyle is one of the two projections on the lower extremity of the femur. The other one is the medial condyle. The lateral condyle is the more prominent and is broader both in its front-to-back and transverse diameters.
Clinical sig ...
alongside the tendon of popliteus muscle.
References
External links
* ()
* - "Major Joints of the Lower Extremity: Knee Joint"
Ligaments of the lower limb
{{ligament-stub