Popliteal Fossa

00:01 Now let's continue moving distally down the posterior surface of the thigh as we encounter the popliteal fossa.

00:08 As the name implies, this is a space, so it's important we look at the boundaries of this space.

00:14 So the popliteal fossa, we can see here is a space and the posterior aspect of the knee.

00:20 So here we can start making out the diamond shape of the popliteal fossa.

00:25 Essentially there's two triangles that have been put together.

00:28 The top triangle therefore has a supralateral and supramedial margins.

00:33 Here we can see semitendinosis and semimembranosus forming that supramedial margin and biceps femorris forming the supralateral margin.

00:43 The infra medial margin is formed by the medial head of gastrocnemius.

00:48 And the infralateral margin is formed by the lateral head of gastrocnemias and these together create that diamond shaped popliteal fossa.

00:57 If we remove some of the muscles, specifically the inferior ones, the gastrocnemias, we can see some additional muscles in this space.

01:05 We can also see the property or surface of the femur, we can see the capsule of the knee joint, here's popliteal muscle, and then deep to that would see soleus but the property or surface of the femur, capsule of the knee joint and popliteal muscle.

01:19 These form the floor of the popliteal fossa.

01:22 The roof is the direct continuation of deep fascia that's been surrounding the thigh.

01:28 So now let's have a look at the popliteal fossa.

01:30 And what we can see is it has a number of important neurovascular structures.

01:36 First of all, we can see the popliteal artery and that's running alongside its popliteal vein.

01:42 We can also see coming off these are a series of genicular arteries and veins and these help to go and supply the knee joint.

01:49 We also see draining into the popliteal vein here is the small saphenous vein that's run up cutaneously from the posterior aspect of the leg.

01:59 Also running in this space, we have the tibial nerve.

02:01 Once it's bifurcated away from the sciatic nerve, and the other terminal branch of the sciatic nerve is that common fibular nerve, but that runs along that supralateral margin where biceps femorris is.

02:14 We can also see we have a number of property or lymph nodes and these will drain up into the superficial and deep inguinal lymph nodes.

02:21 So that's the popliteal fossa and important space within the posterior aspect of the thigh.

02:27 Distally around the knee joint.