Patella

The patella (also known as the knee cap) sits at the front of the knee joint. The patella has the following functions:

1. Protects the quadriceps tendon by reducing friction, compressive stress and lessens the stress by transmitting the forces to the underlying bone instead.

2. Anatomic pulley for the quadriceps muscle. By acting as a pulley, it allows for more effective knew flexion which in turn increases the strength of the quadriceps muscle.

The parts of the patella can be categorized as: