The popliteus is a small muscle in the lateral and posterior compartment of your knee. If it is tense or carries active trigger points, it can trigger pain in the hollow of the knee.
You can relieve these tensions and trigger points with a self-massage.
On this page you will learn everything you need to know about self-massage, as well as …
You will read some Latin names with which might not be familiar. Please don’t be scared. You’ll understand everything.
Trigger points in the popliteus can trigger pain in the hollow of the knee.
However, it’s very unusual that the popliteus causes problems without other muscles of this area (upper and lower leg) being involved.
These muscles are called
Mostly, problems in the popliteus are only identified when the trigger points in these two muscles have been deactivated.
The pain described above occurs mainly under physical stress.
The popliteus has a triangular shape, lies in the hollow of the knee and runs from the lateral side of your knee to your shinbone. Thus, it connects the thigh with the lower leg.
Origins:
Insertion:
Innervation:
The functions of this muscle are not easy to understand without some knowledge of functional anatomy. Still, I would like to explain them.
While sitting, your thigh is more or less immobile. Especially in contrast to the lower leg, which bears less weight.
If the popliteus contracts, then not the thigh will move, but the lower leg, since there is less inertia. Less resistance needs to be overcome. For this reason, the lower leg moves first.
The inward rotation of the tibia is shown in the following two pictures.
In a standing position, it is your lower leg that bears more weight than your thigh. Therefore, it can be turned outwards/laterally by the muscle.
This is only a very small movement that most of you have probably never noticed before.
Unless you practice yoga very consciously – in some postures the lower leg will be twisted against the thigh and the muscle will be strongly contracted.
Right thigh neutral.
Right thigh in slight lateral rotation.
In most cases, the popliteus is overloaded by sports.
Especially by sports that require many and fast changes of direction, as these lead to rotations of the lower and upper leg.
If the muscle is not used to this stress, trigger points can be activated quickly.
But even jogging can overload the muscle, as with every step it stabilizes the knee against excessive rotations.
Examples:
Ruptures of the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL): Another factor that leads to trigger points in this muscle are ruptures of the PCL, although these occur very rarely.
The popliteus supports the PCL in its function of not allowing the lower leg moving too far back in relation to the thigh. Thus, it limits the degree of the lower leg “being able” to move backwards.
If there is a tear in the PCL, this places high mechanical stress on the popliteus, too, which can activate trigger points.
As it is very difficult to distinguish the muscle from the surrounding muscles, and as this is not necessary for the massage, we will skip this chapter.
In the next step, you will learn where and how to place your hands in order to massage the muscle.
Tip: Take your time and perform the massage gently. You are in a sensitive region of your body.
Start with short and gentle massage sessions, increase the pressure and duration of the massage slowly, and listen to your body’s reactions.
If you heed this advice, your body’s reactions will be less intense. Thus, you will have a lesser risk of irritating this sensitive region, and always have enough time to observe.
