Friday 19 February 2016

The new muscle on the block

So, last year as I recall we were told about a new ligament in the knee and now we find out there's a new muscle in the quadriceps! They've given it the name tensor VI, or TVI. It lies between VL and VI and apparently the TVI combined with an aponeurosis merging separately into the quadriceps tendon and inserting on the medial aspect of the patella.

According to the abstract I read (you can find it here) this new extensor was found in all the lower limbs investigated. What caught my eye was the insertion on the medial aspect of the patella. Thinking out loud I wondered whether further research would point to the influence this newly discovered extensor might have on patella tracking. I don't know, and it would obviously depend on how that medial attachment relates to the patella tension and the quadriceps in general. That's something for the clinicians and sports science folk to play with!

It is quite amazing that with all the anatomy studies that have been done that we're still finding new stuff, but I guess we're more complex that we probably imagine.

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