Standing, sitting, or lying supine
Ask the patient to wear shorts or lift the pant leg to allow direct palpation on the skin.
Lateral or anterior to the patient.
May I touch your leg to guide motion in your knee cap? (or point to the area).
Please straighten and bend your knee and then point your toes inward and outward (or demonstrate, which is much easier).
The knee joint can be viewed in a narrow sense as the tibiofemoral joint. In a broader sense it can be viewed as the tibiofemoral and the patellofemoral joints, and as a complex of four joints as the tibiofemoral joint (with medial and lateral tibiofemoral joints), patellofemoral joint, and some include the proximal tibiofibular joint.
Starting with the patient relaxed, either demonstrate or guide the patient to do the following motions:
Starting with the patient relaxed, either demonstrate or guide the patient to do the following motions:
- Knee joint extension and flexion while you palpate and observe upward/superior/proximal glide of the patella in the trochlear groove during extension and downward/inferior/distal glide of the patella in the trochlear groove during flexion.
- Knee joint medial and lateral rotation while you palpate and observe the patella, which can have variable medial and lateral movement in different people and with different degrees of knee flexion. Usual patellar movement is medial and lateral movement or displacement with knee joint rotation.
VH ñ Knee joint ñ quadriceps and hamstrings on one side, only bones on the other side