Popliteus muscle the ankle. The gastrocnemius muscle acts on both joints. It originates from the lateral surface of the lateral condyle of femur by a rounded tendon, the fibers pass downward and medially and give insertion to the posterior surface of tibia, above the soleal line. The muscle arises within the capsule of knee joint and its tendon separates the lateral meniscus from the lateral ligament of the joint. Nerve supply is via the tibial nerve from spinal roots L5 and S1. There is sometimes an additional head from the sesamoid bone in the lateral (outer) head of the gastrocnemius muscle. Rarely
Biarticular muscle By contracting isometrically (without changing length), they put the joint into a four-bar linkage, allowing the contraction of muscles at one joint to move the other by a fixed amount. Unlike four-bar linkages in which all elements are bone and angle relationships are fixed by the relative bone lengths, the biarticular muscle can hold the joint at many different lengths, creating a range of four-bar properties as needed. Biarticular muscles can also transfer mechanical power between distal and proximal joints, though the direction and magnitude of this transfer varies with anatomy, muscle activity level, and joint angles. This is a