What is meniscus in the spine?
What is meniscus in the spine?
The meniscus fills the gap between bones. It’s like cartilage, and exists in the bones of the knee and in the spine. It acts like a shock absorber.
What are menisci?
The meniscus is a c-shaped pad of cartilage in the knee that acts as a shock absorber. Each knee has two menisci. Meniscus tears are common knee injuries.
What is the function of the menisci?
The menisci — the medial meniscus and lateral meniscus – are crescent-shaped bands of thick, rubbery cartilage attached to the shinbone (tibia). They act as shock absorbers and stabilize the knee. The medial meniscus is on the inner side of the knee joint.
What is menisci in joint?
A meniscus is a piece of cartilage found where two bones meet (joint space). Menisci (plural of meniscus) protect and cushion the joint surface and bone ends. In the knee, the crescent-shaped menisci are positioned between the ends of the upper (femur) and lower (tibia) leg bones.
What are menisci articular disc?
The articular disk(meniscus) is a thin, oval plate of fibrocartilage present in several joints which separates synovial cavities. This separation of the cavity space allows for separate movements to occur in each space.
Can meniscus be repaired?
Meniscus surgery is a common operation to remove or repair a torn meniscus, a piece of cartilage in the knee. The surgery requires a few small incisions and takes about an hour. Recovery and rehabilitation take a few weeks.
What are menisci made of?
It is composed of two crescent-shaped rings of fibrocartilage tissue and is located between the articulating femur and tibia of the joint [4,5]. The meniscus is composed of fibrochondrocytes with few myofibroblasts and endothelial cells.
Where is meniscus pain?
Initial symptoms of a torn meniscus include well-localized pain and swelling in the knee. The pain is usually either on the inner or outer side of the knee, not around the kneecap.
Why is the meniscus important?
The meniscus plays a vital role in maintaining the stability of the knee joint along with optimizing the tibiofemoral load transfer and distribution. This also helps in preserving the health of the articular cartilage.
How are menisci attached?
Anatomy and attachment The posterior horn of the medial meniscus is firmly attached to the posterior aspect of the periphery to the joint capsule. At its midpoint, the meniscus is firmly attached to the femur and tibia through a condensation in the joint capsule known as the deep medial ligament.
What bone is the meniscus?
Why is there a meniscus?
Water molecules are attracted to the molecules in the wall of the glass beaker. And since water molecules like to stick together, when the molecules touching the glass cling to it, other water molecules cling to the molecules touching the glass, forming the meniscus.
The geometric structure of the menisci provides an important role in maintaining joint congruity and stability. ##The superior surface of each meniscus is concave, enabling effective articulation between the convex femoral condyles and flat tibial plateau.
Where are the menisci located in the knee?
Gross Anatomy Gross examination of the knee menisci reveals a smooth, lubricated tissue (Figure 1). They are crescent-shaped wedges of fibrocartilage located on the medial and lateral aspects of the knee joint (Figure 2A).
What is another name for the meniscus?
The menisci are also known as “semi-lunar” cartilages, referring to their half-moon, crescent shape. The term “meniscus” is from the Ancient Greek word μηνίσκος (meniskos), meaning “crescent.”
What do we know about human meniscus differentiation?
Petersen and Tillmann immunohistochemically investigated human menisci (ranging from 22 weeks of gestation to 80 years), observing the differentiation of blood vessels and lymphatics in 20 human cadavers. At the time of birth, nearly the entire meniscus was vascularized.
