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I chose for my STEAM project to understand the causes of something I struggle with as an athlete, knee pain from overuse. This model is meant to depict and represent all the important muscles and tendons that are involved with a specific kind of knee pain called patella tendonitis. This is characterized by inflammation of the patellar tendon, which connects the patella bone (kneecap) to the tibia. It is very common in athletes who have overworked muscles in the leg. It’s also referred to as jumper’s knee because jumping is an action that can trigger major irritation and pain for an athlete. The anatomy constructed in this model include the femur, tibula/fibula, LCL & MCL, patella bone & tendon, meniscus and the three major quadricep muscles involved with knee extension: vastus medialis, vastus lateralis and rectus formis. The white-out on the middle muscle represents where the rectus formis develops into the patella tendon. Saran wrap surrounds the patella bone to signify that it is embedded into the tendon.
My partner did her project on patella tendonitis. I think she did an excellent job making her project and taking pictures of the different views. I can tell that she spent a lot of time on this and put in the effort. Her project explains how patella tendonitis causes inflammation of the patellar tendon and it is most common in athletes. The patellar tendon helps to extend the muscles of the knee. It is very common to athletes who have overworked muscles in the leg. This disease is specific to those who do a lot of jumping actions, this is where it gets its commonly known nickname “jumper’s knee”. Treatment for this is going to physical therapy and stretching. I really like how you related the project to yourself as an athlete because it makes the project more personal. I also do a lot of jumping in the sport I am in and this makes me more aware of this condition. I learned that I shouldn’t overwork my knee and do a lot of stretching and physical training to help my knee muscles get stronger and work more on my form so that I don’t get hurt. I thought it was cool how we both did our projects on the knee with just different materials for the tibia and femur. I thought it was cool to see your different materials of the knee and how you replicated it vs mine. I also really liked how you used a lot of different materials to exceed your project, it came out very well. I really enjoyed learning about your project and seeing your view on it. Very well done!