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Medial meniscus: anatomy, location and function

The medial meniscus is the larger, C-shaped (almost semicircular) ring of fibrocartilage between the medial condyles of the femur and tibia. It deepens the tibial articular surface, which steadies the joint, and acts as a shock absorber by spreading load over a larger area.

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Highlighted in the model: Medial meniscus. Click any part to read about it, or switch off “Highlight topic” to see the whole body. Use Male / Female to switch bodies. 3D data: BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science; knee ligaments, menisci, tonsils, palate and parotid glands from the Human Reference Atlas Visible Human Male model and female parts from its Visible Human Female model (HuBMAP / NIH); lung lobes built from the BodyParts3D chest; all CC BY 4.0; meshes simplified and recoloured. The default body is an adult male.

Medial meniscus at a glance

What it is
The medial meniscus is the larger, C-shaped (almost semicircular) ring of fibrocartilage between the medial condyles of the femur and tibia.
Location
It lies on the inner half of the tibial plateau. Both of its ends attach to the intercondylar area of the tibia, and its outer edge is fixed to the joint capsule and the tibial collateral ligament.
Function
It deepens the tibial articular surface, which steadies the joint, and acts as a shock absorber by spreading load over a larger area.
Body system
Skeletal · paired (left and right)
FMA ID
FMA44620 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • Its attachment to the deep layer of the tibial collateral ligament and to the capsule makes it less mobile than the lateral meniscus.
  • It is often torn together with the tibial collateral ligament, and both are part of the unhappy triad.

Structures next to the medial meniscus

The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Medial meniscus (FMA44620). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
  2. TeachMeAnatomy. The Knee Joint.
  3. Radiopaedia. Lateral meniscus.
  4. OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §7.1 Divisions of the Skeletal System. Rice University, 2022.
  5. Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.
  6. Browne K., Schlehlein H. (2026). 3D Reference Organ Set for Male, v1.10 (Visible Human Male). Human Reference Atlas 3D Reference Object Library, HuBMAP / NIH. CC BY 4.0.

Related anatomy

Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.