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Tibial collateral ligament: anatomy, location and function

The tibial collateral ligament, usually called the medial collateral ligament (MCL), is the wide, flat ligament on the inner side of the knee. It stabilises the hinge movement of the knee on its medial side.

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Highlighted in the model: Tibial collateral ligament. 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.

Tibial collateral ligament at a glance

Also called
Medial collateral ligament (MCL)
What it is
The tibial collateral ligament, usually called the medial collateral ligament (MCL), is the wide, flat ligament on the inner side of the knee.
Location
It runs from the medial epicondyle of the femur to the medial condyle of the tibia, and it is also attached to the joint capsule and the medial meniscus.
Function
It stabilises the hinge movement of the knee on its medial side.
Body system
Skeletal · paired (left and right)
FMA ID
FMA44600 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • Collateral ligament injury is the most common knee joint injury; it happens when a force hits the side of the knee while the foot is planted.
  • Because it is attached to the medial meniscus, damage to it often comes with a medial meniscus tear.

Clinical relevance

It is part of the unhappy triad with the anterior cruciate ligament and the medial meniscus.

Structures next to the tibial collateral ligament

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

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Tibial collateral ligament (FMA44600). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
  2. TeachMeAnatomy. The Knee Joint.
  3. OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §7.1 Divisions of the Skeletal System. Rice University, 2022.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.