Lying supine or sitting
Ask the patient to wear shorts to allow direct palpation on the skin.
Anterior or lateral to the patient.
Please lie down on your back (or sit). Bend your knee and let your foot rest on the mat (or other surface). May I touch around your knee? (or demonstrate).
Guide the patient to lie supine with the knee flexed and foot supported. Guide the patient to relax the quadriceps if the position and support are not adequate. If given permission, gently press on the quadriceps tendon. Palpate the concave curvature of the groove on the femur that is posterior to the quadriceps tendon.
VH - Trochlear groove of the femur ñ add the quadriceps tendon and quadriceps and the patellar retinaculum on one side