Massage.
LandmarkThighDraft

Patella

The kneecap: a flat, triangular bone at the front of the knee.

BonePatella (kneecap), a sesamoid bone in the quadriceps tendon
RegionThigh

Find it

  1. Client supine with the knee straight and the thigh muscles relaxed.
  2. Find its edges with your thumb and fingers: the broad base at the top, the two sides and the point (apex) at the bottom.
  3. With the thigh relaxed, the patella glides gently from side to side. Ask the client to tighten the thigh and feel it lock in place.
  4. From the apex, follow the thick patellar ligament down to the tibial tuberosity.

The patella sits inside the tendon of the quadriceps. Rectus femoris and vastus intermedius attach to its base (top edge), and vastus lateralis and vastus medialis to its sides. The patellar ligament runs from its apex to the tibial tuberosity.

A bursa lies between the patella and the skin. Work around the kneecap rather than pressing on it.

Muscles attaching or palpated here

  • Popliteus — Small, flat, triangular muscle deep behind the knee that rotates the tibia or femur to "unlock" the straightened knee so it can bend.
  • Quadriceps — Group of four large muscles on the front of the thigh that join into one tendon over the kneecap and are the only muscles that straighten the knee.
  • Rectus femoris — Spindle-shaped muscle down the middle of the front of the thigh, the only quadriceps muscle that crosses the hip, so it both flexes the hip and straightens the knee.
  • Vastus intermedius — Deep quadriceps muscle lying on the front of the femur under rectus femoris, which straightens the knee.
  • Vastus lateralis — The largest quadriceps muscle, covering the outer side of the thigh, which straightens and steadies the knee.
  • Vastus medialis — Quadriceps muscle on the inner side of the thigh, forming the teardrop bulge above the knee, that straightens the knee and helps the kneecap track in its groove.

Sources

  1. Wikipedia: Patella
  2. Gray's Anatomy (1918), The Patella (Bartleby, archived)