Abstract

Several studies have presented evidence of nerve damage and hyper-innervation into the lateral retinaculum in patients with patellofemoral mal-alignment. In those individuals, neural growth factor is overexpressed in the nerve fibre and vessel wall and stimulates the release of substance P in the free nerve endings. Fulkerson described the palpation of the patellar retinaculum as follows: With the knee in full extension, portions of the lateral and medial knee retinacula are palpated gently to see if there is an obvious source of pain in any one location.