The collateral ligaments of the knee joint in the cat and man. Morphological and functional study of the internal arrangement of fibers

The present investigation of fiber arrangement in the collateral ligaments of the knee was carried out in cats and man in various positions of flexion and extension, without compression load. In all knee joint positions, the fibers of the collateral ligaments are twisted except for the fibers in the meniscal part of the medial collateral ligament which have a parallel arrangement. Furthermore, most of the fibers in the collateral ligaments are taut in all positions of the knee joint in both cat and man. By means of planar models representing different fiber arrangements, the kinematic behavior of the collateral ligaments was analyzed. It appears that a crossed (twisted) arrangement of the fibers is most effective in rotatory movements, whereas a parallel orientation is most effective in translation. Our data further indicate that, in measuring the changes in lengths of ligaments during joint motion, one cannot neglect the internal arrangement of fibers and the geometry of the articular surfaces and menisci.