The patterns of proximal attachments of the popliteus muscle: form and function

Abstract

The proximal attachments of the popliteus muscle exhibit some variability in the literature, leading to questions regarding function. The anatomic variability of the proximal attachments of popliteus muscles in Thais was studied in order to compare with the previous reported literature by carefully tracking its fibers caudo-cephalically. The sites of the proximal attachments of popliteus muscles found in this study were at the lateral femoral condyle (100%), the posterior horn of the lateral meniscus (63%) and the fibular head (52.1%). Our result also reveals the difference of the strength of the attachment at the lateral meniscus, having some relationship with the attachment at the fibular head, which corresponds with the concept of form and function.