Many people will read this and wonder why
this joint is so important? We never learned in anatomy or
kinesiology that this joint was imporant because it has no real action
or movement.
WHEN IT COMES TO LATERAL KNEE PAIN, THIS
JOINT USUALLY MEANS EVERYTHING!
We discussed why
typical
treatment methods for lateral knee pain don't work (if you missed
it, click
here).
Now we're going to discuss where the pain actually stems from...The
Proximal Tibiofibular Joint.
Anatomy
Review
Just below the knee on the lateral side of the lower leg, lies the
proximal (closest to the body's midsection) tibiofibular joint.
The is where the Tibia and Fibula meet and are held together by the
tibiofibular ligament. This joint is actually designed to assist
in ankle stability. This sounds like a little bit of a stretch,
because it is so far away from the ankle joint. But, as you read
further, it's function as it relates to the ankle is rather
important.
There are some other stuctures in the area that are very important as
well. The Iliotibial Band attaches in the area of this
joint. Also, several branches of the peroneal nerve are in very
close proximity of the proximal tibiofibular joint. And, the
Peroneal muscles originate in the area as well.
What is the
Function of the Joint?
The function of the proximal Tibiofibular joint is to stabilize the
ankle joint. As stated above, this may seem like a stretch
because it is quite a distance from the ankle itself, but it is much
more important than one might think. The ankle joint is called a
mortise joint. Meaning, the talus is the tenon that is
sandwhiched in between the tibia and fibula (the mortise). If one
of those bones gets fractured or loses stability, there is no longer a
mortise for the talus to fit into and the ankle literally falls
apart.
Usually you think of these issues as being isolated to the distal
Tibiofibular joint, but it is if any part of the fibula loses
stability, it will become problematic. It is actually not all
that rare to see a fracture in the proximal third of the fibula when
the ankle is sprained due to the stresses that are placed on the boney
structures.
We discuss how these actions cause problems at the lateral knee in
depth when we discuss the cause of the problem.
Learn more about how Lateral
Knee Pain:
Typical
Treatment
The
Cause of the Problem
The
Solution
