Lower extremity of femur

Lower extremity of femur
Lower extremity of right femur viewed from below.
Left knee joint from behind, showing interior ligaments.
Details
Identifiers
Latin	Extremitas distalis ossis femoris
FMA	32844
Anatomical terms of bone []

The lower extremity of the femur (or distal extremity) is the lower end of the thigh bone in human and other animals, closer to the knee. It is larger than the upper extremity of femur, is somewhat cuboid in form, but its transverse diameter is greater than its antero-posterior; it consists of two oblong eminences known as the condyles.

Anteriorly, the condyles are slightly prominent and are separated by a smooth shallow articular depression called the patellar surface. Posteriorly, they project considerably and a deep notch, the intercondylar fossa of femur, is present between them.

The lateral condyle is the more prominent and is the broader both in its antero-posterior and transverse diameters, the medial condyle is the longer and, when the femur is held with its body perpendicular, projects to a lower level.

When, however, the femur is in its natural oblique position the lower surfaces of the two condyles lie practically in the same horizontal plane.

The condyles are not quite parallel with one another; the long axis of the lateral is almost directly antero-posterior, but that of the medial runs backward and medialward.

Their opposed surfaces are small, rough, and concave, and form the walls of the intercondylar fossa.

This fossa is limited above by a ridge, the intercondyloid line, and below by the central part of the posterior margin of the patellar surface.

The posterior cruciate ligament of the knee joint is attached to the lower and front part of the medial wall of the fossa and the anterior cruciate ligament to an impression on the upper and back part of its lateral wall.

Each condyle is surmounted by an elevation, the epicondyle.

The medial epicondyle is a large convex eminence to which the tibial collateral ligament of the knee-joint is attached.

At its upper part is the adductor tubercle, already referred to, and behind it is a rough impression which gives origin to the medial head of the Gastrocnemius.