title: Tendon and fascial structure contributions to knee muscle excursions and knee joint displacement.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Semitendinosus and gracilis muscles whose tendons are used in surgical reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament maintain their contractile ability, and a limited decrease of hamstring muscles force is observed postoperatively despite important changes. The goal was to quantify the influence of the myofascial structures on excursions and moment arms of knee muscles to attempt explaining the above-mentioned post-surgical observations.
  
  
  METHODS
  Hamstring harvesting procedures were performed by a senior orthopaedic surgeon on seven lower limbs from fresh-frozen specimens. Femoro-tibial kinematics and tendons excursion were simultaneously recorded at each steps of the surgery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No significant difference was demonstrated for excursions and moment arms after tenotomies and gracilis tendon harvesting (P≥0.05). The first significant semitendinosus excursion (P<1.17×10(-4)) and moment arm (P<6.88×10(-5)) decrease was observed after semitendinosus tendon harvesting (46% of the initial excursion).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Gracilis and semitendinosus myofascial pathway is crucial for force transmission towards the knee joint.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Anatomy, Biomechanics and Organogenesis, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Bruxelles, Belgium. Electronic address: osnoeck@ulb.ac.be.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Snoeck
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Anatomy, Biomechanics and Organogenesis, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Bruxelles, Belgium.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Beyer
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Anatomy, Biomechanics and Organogenesis, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Bruxelles, Belgium; Laboratory of Functional Anatomy, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, Belgium.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Feipel
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Anatomy, Biomechanics and Organogenesis, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Bruxelles, Belgium; Laboratory of Functional Anatomy, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, Belgium.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Salvia
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Functional Anatomy, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, Belgium.
authors.forename: J-L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Sterckx
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Anatomy, Biomechanics and Organogenesis, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Bruxelles, Belgium; Laboratory of Functional Anatomy, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, Belgium; Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Erasme Hospital, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, Belgium.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rooze
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Anatomy, Biomechanics and Organogenesis, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Bruxelles, Belgium.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Van Sint Jan
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016118:Anterior Cruciate Ligament / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena / Q000502:physiology; D002102:Cadaver; D005205:Fascia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D005269:Femur; D006801:Humans; D007593:Joint Instability / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000502:physiology; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013710:Tendons / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery; D013977:Tibia
keywords: Anterior cruciate ligament; Connective tissue; Fascia; Hamstrings harvesting; Moment arms