IUBio

joint question

steve madison s.madison at sympatico.ca
Fri Mar 12 01:52:39 EST 1999


Eve L Klein wrote:

> how many degrees of freedom do the knee and elbow joints have?
>
> thanks
>
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  both joints are uniaxial hinge joints, ginglymus if i'm not mistaken,
(meaning one degree of motion - flexion/extension).  however the knee
joint does not articulate as tightly as the elbow.  that's why the knee
joint contains menisci to shape the articulating bones for a better
fit/match to increase stability.  i wise move in a weight bearing joint!
in fact the femur slides forward on the tibia briefly before flexion of
the knee (or is that extension?  i forget the details this late in the
evening.)
hope this answers your question.  just taught a course on joints last
semester so if you need more info let me know.

steve madison
formerly of neuromuscular research lab
laurentian university
looking for a ph.d. supervisor




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