Medial collateral ligament
ligament on the inner side of the knee joint in humans and certain other animals
The medial collateral ligament (MCL), also called the superficial medial collateral ligament (sMCL) or tibial collateral ligament (TCL), is one of the major ligaments of the knee. It is on the medial (inner) side of the knee joint and occurs in humans and other primates. Its primary function is to resist valgus (inward bending) forces on the knee.
Structure
The MCL is a broad, flat, membranous band, situated slightly posterior on the medial side of the knee joint. It is attached proximally to the medial epicondyle of the femur, immediately below the adductor tubercle; below to the medial condyle of the tibia and medial surface of its body.
It resists forces that would push the knee medially, which would otherwise produce valgus deformity. It provides up to 78% of the restraining force that resists valgus (inward pressing) loads on the knee.
The fibers of the posterior part of the ligament are short and incline backward as they descend; they are inserted into the tibia above the groove for the semimembranosus muscle.
The anterior part of the ligament is a flattened band, about 10 centimeters long, which inclines forward as it descends.
It is inserted into the medial surface of the body of the tibia about 2.5 centimeters below the level of the condyle.
The public source identifies “Medial collateral ligament” as ligament on the inner side of the knee joint in humans and certain other animals. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Medial, collateral and ligament.
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This entry incorporates text from “Medial collateral ligament” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.