The knee may not be among the body parts that’s injured most often, but it can be the most debilitating when it is.

To get an idea of all the things that can go awry with the knee, first consider its construction. The thighbone, or femur, joins with the shin-bone, or tibia, at the kneecap, which is also known as the patella. In between the femur and tibia are two large discs of cartilage called the lateral meniscus and the medial meniscus. The femur fits into a groove in the kneecap and is quite content to move up and down within that groove, with the cartilage acting as a shock absorber. Content, that is, until something goes wrong.

The cartilage, specifically the meniscus, is the most often injured part of the body in sports, especially among women, since their naturally wider hips make them more susceptible to knee injuries. The thighbones of wider-hipped athletes connect to the knees at an angle, instead of lining up directly over the shins and feet, and that places added stress on the joint that can cause strain or damage.

In the less-than-ideal reality of participant sports, the kneecap is often jarred off its path, leading me to think of a bobsled run: sometimes it runs smoothly and easily, while at other times the “sled” goes from side to side and creates a lot of friction. In this condition, called patellofemoral dysfunction, the kneecap goes off center or even completely out of its groove at the end of the thighbone.

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