J Korean Knee Soc.  2010 Mar;22(1):39-45.

The Length of the Patellar Tendon in Normal Adults

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Gangneung Asan Hospital, Ulsan University College of Medicine, Gangneung, Korea. osteotome@hanmail.net

Abstract

PURPOSE
This study was conducted to measure the length of the patellar tendon in normal adults and to analyze the effect of several anthropological variables on the patellar tendon length.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study included 316 knees (278 males, 38 females) that were undergoing anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction with a bone-patellar-bone autograft. The patellar tendon length was measured on the middle 1/3 of the ipsilateral patellar tendon taken during the operation and we analyzed the relationships between the tendon length and age, weight, height and gender using simple correlation tests and linear regression analysis.
RESULTS
The mean tendon length was 42.6 mm (range: 30~60 mm) and the mean age, mean weight and mean height was 32.7 years, 72.8 kg and 170.2 cm, respectively. There was weak negative correlation between the tendon length and age (Pearson correlation r=-0.187) and weak positive correlation between the tendon length and weight (r=0.288) but there was no significant correlation between tendon length and the body mass index (p=0.282) There was a positive correlation between tendon length and height (r=0.434). There was a significant difference between the males and females for the length of tendon (p<0.001), yet after removing the variance of height, the difference was statistically insignificant (beta=-0.041, p=0.491). The linear regression equation for the patellar tendon length (y, in centimeters) as a function of height (x, in centimeter) can be expressed as y=0.032x1.183.
CONCLUSION
The length of the patellar tendon is correlated with height, and a patient's height can predict the length of the patellar tendon.

Keyword

Knee; Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction; Patellar tendon length

MeSH Terms

Adult
Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction
Body Mass Index
Female
Humans
Knee
Linear Models
Male
Patellar Ligament
Tendons
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