OPL Anatomy

This section describes the oblique popliteal ligament anatomy, including the femoral and tibial insertion sites.

General Description

The OPL has two distal insertions, however the model represents the OPL as having only one tibial insertion that is just lateral to the PCL insertion. The medial aspect of the OPL is formed by “a confluence of the lateral expansion off the semimembranosus common tendon” [LaP07]. Given that the laxity tests do not activate the muscles, the medial aspect of the OPL is assumed to not be recuruited throughout testing, and is not represented in the model.

The OPL attaches proximally to an osseous or cartilaginous fabella, and blends into the posterolateral capsule at the posterolateral aspect of the distal part of the femur [LaP07]. The model does not represent the fabella, so the femoral attachment is taken as the attachment of the posterolateral jonit capsule to the

  • Femoral insertion: inserts into the posterolateral joint capsule at the medial border of the lateral femoral condyle [HSM+17]. The model represents the femoral insertion site as on the lateral side of the lateral femoral condyle near the superior margin of the cartilage.
  • Tibial insertion: lateral to the PCL tibial attachment, with an attachment length of 10.4mm (range, 7.0 to 14.0).
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Fig. 19 The posterior view of a right knee showing the OPL [LaP07].

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Fig. 20 Axial MR images showing the OPL [HSM+17].

[HSM+17](1, 2) Mandy Hedderwick, Mark D. Stringer, Liam McRedmond, Grant R. Meikle, and Stephanie J. Woodley. The oblique popliteal ligament: an anatomic and MRI investigation. Surgical and Radiologic Anatomy, 39(9):1017–1027, September 2017. URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00276-017-1838-7, doi:10.1007/s00276-017-1838-7.
[LaP07](1, 2, 3) Robert F. LaPrade. The Anatomy of the Posterior Aspect of the Knee: An Anatomic Study. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (American), 89(4):758, April 2007. URL: http://jbjs.org/cgi/doi/10.2106/JBJS.F.00120, doi:10.2106/JBJS.F.00120.