Description

This video covers the topography of the thigh and leg, including key anatomical structures, compartments, and their contents.

Topography of the Thigh

Femoral Triangle (Trigonum Femorale)

• Boundaries:
  • Sartorius Muscle
  • Adductor Longus
  • Inguinal Ligament (Ligamentum Inguinale)
• Floor:
  • Iliopsoas
  • Pectineus
• Mnemonic: NAVEL (Nerve, Artery, Vein, Empty Space, Lymphatics)

Adductor Canal (Canalis Adductorius)

• Contents:
  • Femoral Artery (Arteria Femoralis)
  • Femoral Vein (Vena Femoralis)
• Boundaries:
  • Sartorius Muscle
  • Vastus Medialis
  • Adductor Magnus
• Starts: Femoral Triangle
• Ends: Popliteal Fossa

Popliteal Fossa (Fossa Poplitea)

• Boundaries:
  • Semimembranosus and Semitendinosus (Medial Upper Border)
  • Biceps Femoris (Lateral Upper Border)
  • Gastrocnemius Medial Head (Medial Lower Border)
  • Gastrocnemius Lateral Head (Lateral Lower Border)
• Contents:
  • Popliteal Fascia (Fascia Poplitea)

Topography of the Leg

Crural Fascia (Fascia Cruris)

• Contents:
  • Anterior Tibial Artery and Vein
  • Deep Fibular Nerve
  • Fibular Artery and Vein
  • Posterior Tibial Artery and Vein
  • Tibial Nerve

Transcript

Introduction
0:03
In the last video, we covered the main topographical openings of the Hip. Now
0:08
let’s do the topography of the Thigh and the Topography of the Leg.
Thigh Topography Overview
0:11
So the topography of the thigh consists of the Femoral Triangle,
0:14
Adductor Canal and the Popliteal Fossa. So let’s start with the femoral triangle.
Femoral Triangle
0:19
The femoral triangle is a region in the anterior thigh of a triangular zone
0:23
that will help ou identify many structures within this part of our body. And ot help you remember
0:29
the sequence of the structures within the femoral triangle, I like to use the mnemonic Navel.
0:34
Which will help remember the order from the lateral moving medially, that the femoral nerve
0:39
is the most lateral structure within the space. Followed by the femoral artery. The femoral vein
0:44
and then the lymphatics. So let’s now take a closer look at the boundaries of this area.
0:49
The first thing that we’re gonna see is that the lateral border is gonna be
0:52
formed by the sartorius muscle. The superior border is going to
0:56
be the inguinal ligament, and the medial border is going to be one of the adductor
1:00
muscles. The adductor Longus muscle. In other words, The base of the triangle
1:05
is actually going to be the inguinal ligament. And the apex is directed inferiomedially.
1:10
Deep to the contents. The floor of this area is going to be made by the Iliopsoas laterally,
1:16
and the pectineus medially, as you see here. So that was the Femoral Triangle.
Adductor Canal
1:21
Now let’s cover a canal called the adductor canal. The adductor canal is a special region within the
1:27
thigh, that is going to allow a passage for the femoral artery and the femoral vein to run down
1:33
through the thigh. And once they reach the end of the thigh, they’re going to go posteriorly
1:38
into a region called the popliteal fossa as these two vessels become,
1:42
he popliteal artery and the popliteal vein. To better visualize the canal, I’ve cut a window
1:48
through two of the muscles on the anterior compartment of the thigh.
1:51
The first of which is the sartorius muscle. As you see here. This muscle is going to form the roof of
1:56
the adductor canal. Meaning that the structures that is going to within this space, is going to
2:01
lie deep to the sartorius muscle. Therefore, I needed to cut a window through this muscle
2:06
to allow us to see the path of those vessels. I’ve also cut through the vastus medialis, which is one
2:11
of the large quadriceps muscles, which is going to be on the medial aspect of the knee. Dorsally
2:16
to this canal, you’ll see the adductor Magnus. So the adductor canal is going to start at the
2:22
apex of the femoral triangle, then it’s going to go down and end at the popliteal Fossa. SO
2:28
that was everything I had for the adductor canal. Now let’s turn the leg around and talk about the
Popliteal Fossa
2:33
popliteal fossa a little bit. The popliteal fossa is bordered by certain muscles you’ll find here
2:39
on the posterior aspect of the knee. It’s bound superior medially,
2:43
by the Semimembranosus and semitendinosus. It’s bound superior laterally by the Biceps Femoris.
2:50
Then inferior medially, we have the medial gastrocnemius muscle of the triceps surae.
2:55
And then inferior laterally we’ll find the lateral gastrocnemius muscle.
2:59
Now. Deep in the popliteal fossa, we’ll find the popliteal artery. We can also find the popliteal
3:05
vein. As well as the Sciatic nerve, that give of a branch going through the popliteal fossa
3:08
called the tibial nerve, and a branch leaving the popliteal fossa called the common fibular nerve.
3:12
The popliteal fossa is covered by a fascia as you see here,
3:16
called the Popliteal fossa, which protects the vasculature located in the popliteal fossa.
3:22
Clinically, you can use the popliteal fossa to palpate for the pulse of the popliteal artery
3:27
by flexing the leg slightly as you see here. Awesome, so that was the topography of the thigh.
Topography of the Leg
3:32
Now let’s quickly do the topography of the leg. Now here we have the leg, with the crural
3:37
fascia around it. Let’s make a cross section of the leg, and look at it
3:40
from this perspective. We’ll see this. Now we went through all of this when we
3:45
talked about the crural fascia, but there’s gonna be a canal here on the posterior side,
3:49
lying deeply for the Posterior tibial artery and vein, as well as for the tibial nerve. There’s
3:55
also going to be a canal for the fibular artery and vein. And within the anterior compartment,
4:02
there’s a small canal for the anterior tibial vein and artery. As well as the deep fibular nerve.
4:09
So that was all for the topography of the lower limb. And I hope that was helpful.