by AceMedEd

Teach card · keep it in your scrub pocket

Knee anatomy

Ask during the case

  1. During the arthrotomy or the portals: "Which skin nerve crosses below the patella here, and what will the patient notice if we cut it?"
  2. In clinic, examining the knee: "Valgus stress is lax at 30° and firm at 0°. What's torn, and what would laxity at 0° add?"
  3. On the MRI: "Find the ACL and the PCL on this axial cut. Which condyle does each one hug, and what lies right behind the PCL?"

Point at: the patellar tendon and the joint line, then the side you're working on, while they name what lies deep to it.

End of day: "Redraw the joint-line cross-section for me, then the portals." Two minutes, no notes.

Where this kit and your technique differ, yours wins.

Send this to your students

The night before. They prep alone, redraw at turnover, and get a cold check tomorrow morning. They won't see these questions.

Open the student page

Reviewed by Mehdi “AC” Talle, D.O., November 2026. Sources: Netter, Gray's Anatomy and Hoppenfeld's surgical exposures. Teaching schematic, not to scale; anatomy and technique vary. Management and indications are left to you on purpose.