Medial Meniscus Morpholgy

How many times have you seen people walking with crutches?

The answer is probably a lot.  Do you know why? One of the common reasons for that is knee injury. The knee is the biggest joint in the human that transmits the body weight to the tibia and helps keep the body weight balanced. Because of the nature of its function the chances of getting knee joint injuries are higher than other joints in the body, especially for athletics and workers on jobs that require hard physical labor. Another reason why the knee is more subjected to injuries is the wide range of its movements and because of that the knee joint has many ligaments and menisci- which is defined as a thin fibrous cartilage between the surfaces of the femur and the tibia-. The menisci functions are protecting the underlying articular cartilage, distributing pressure on the surface of the tibia, and lubricate the cartilage surface to help keep the movement easy and smooth. The menisci also limit the anterior and the posterior displacement and increase the anterioposterior stability of knee joint and that makes the menisci secondary stabilizers compared to the cruciate ligaments. The knee joint has two menisci the lateral meniscus and the medial meniscus. The medial meniscus is more subjected to injuries than the lateral one and this is because of its limited movement range compared to the lateral meniscus and the pressure on it is higher than on the lateral one. Ongoing researches aimed to investigate the differences in the size and shape of the medial meniscus between humans. A morphological study was done in adboud University Medical Center in Netherlands found a significant difference between menisci size and shape between males and females. Another morphological study of the medial menisci in adult cadavers of south indian population was done in Manipal University, Anatomy department also found a significant difference between meniscal shape among the population as a whole. After these findings, the next question is can the findings help prevent injuries before they happen and/or develop a new treatment method, and if yes how?

Left knee structures on the tibial and fibular surfaces including medial meniscus