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in the later lecture. Now let?s turn to
the popliteal fossa. This is the important
region directly behind the knee joint. And
we can see on this diagram, we?ve got a
quite intact popliteal fossa with the deep
fascia still in place, and some cutaneous
veins, the great saphenous and the short
saphenous is here where the small saphenous
sometimes labelled. And here when it?s been removed,
we can see into the popliteal fossa and look
at its boundaries and the contents. So the
popliteal fossa is this fat-filled diamond-shaped
space located posterior to the knee joint.
It contains all of the neurovascular structures
that pass from the thigh to the leg. Its boundaries
are formed by the muscles that we mentioned
previously. So superolaterally, here, we?re
looking at the posterior surface of a right
leg, right knee joint. So this is going to
be a lateral aspect. This is going to be a
medial aspect. Superolaterally, we have biceps
femoris. Superomedially, we have semimembranosus
just running down here. And this forms the
top parts of our diamond. Inferolaterally,
we have the lateral head of gastrocnemius,
so down here. And inferomedially, we have
the medial head of gastrocnemius which is
running down here. We can see now we have
the contents of the popliteal fossa where
we?ve got the boundaries being formed by
these muscles, so the contents within the
popliteal fossa. If we look at the roof of
the popliteal fossa, then it?s going to be
popliteal fascia that the deep fascia lying
over the popliteal fossa, and also the skin.
And then superficial to that facia, we?ve
got the great saphenous and the small or the
short saphenous veins. The floor of the popliteal
fossa is going to be the popliteal surface
of the femur, and also a small muscle which
we?ll see later on known as popliteus. And
the contents, these structures here, are going
to sit on that floor. So as I mentioned, the
popliteal fossa contains all of the neurovascular