Applied anatomy and kinesiology; the mechanism of muscular movement

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1919 Excerpt: ...of the hips take place in climbing a ladder? How different in climbing a stair? In climbing a rope? What muscles are used in the first two cases and not in the third? In the third and not in the first two? CHAPTER IX. MOVEMENTS OF THE KNEE-JOINT. The knee-joint is the largest and most complex joint in the body and consists of two separate articulations between the tibia and the femur. The two condyles of the femur rest upon the two tuberosities of the tibia and fit into shallow depressions made by two cartilages, the semilunar cartilages, which are joined to the rather flat surface at the summit of the tibia. Near the median Fig. 100.--The cartilages and ligaments within the capsule of the knee-joint, viewed from above. (Gerrish.) line of the knee, between these two articulations, are two strong ligaments, the crucial ligaments, connecting the tibia and femur and limiting the movements of the joint. Around the outside of all these structures is the capsular ligament, reinforced by strong bands of fibrous tissue on the inner and outer sides and the rear; the patellar ligament, which connects the patella with thetibia, isjblendedwith the capsule on the front and strongly reinforces it there, f The knee acts much like a hinge joint, permitting only flexion and extension excepting when it is flexed to 90 degrees or more; this slackens the tension on the ligaments so as to permit 60 to 90 degrees of rotation of the tibia. One can easily notice the distinction between rotation in the hip and in the knee by observation of his own limb while sitting in a chair. If the knee is held firmly extended the toes can be turned in and out easily, and by feeling the knee while this is going on it is easy to discover that there is no rotation there, the whole thigh rotating u...