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Attaching the elastic muscle cords

Each of the elastic muscle cords in your kit has two attachment sites (an origin and an insertion) and represents a line of action for one of the muscles in the knee region. To attach the elastic muscle cords, you just need to know how to attach the end of the cord to one of the three possible attachment site types: a quadriceps tendon clip, an attachment site/hole on the surface of a bone, and an attachment site/hole in a cross-section plate. And if you're attaching a muscle to a bone, you'll also need the forceps, located at the bottom left corner of Parts Plate A.

Photo of Parts Plate A with manual muscle cords, ruler, quad muscles, and hex key attached. Arrow and text indicate the forceps

The forceps should be attached to the bottom left corner of Parts Plate A in your kit.

Before you attach any elastic muscle cords, be sure that you understand the muscle color and labeling scheme used in your kit. This will help you easily identify each muscle, its attachment sites, and its corresponding compartment.

Attaching a muscle to a quadriceps tendon clip

The first muscle attachment type is the tendon clip for the quadriceps muscles. The quadriceps tendon clips have attachment sites for one (in the case of rectus femoris) or up to three elastic muscle cords (in the case of the vasti muscles). Each clip is labeled with the corresponding quadriceps abbreviation and attachment site (REF-B, VAI-E, VAL-D, VAM-D).

Photo of the full knee kit model from an anterior view zoomed in to focus on the quadriceps tendons and with circles, arrows, and text labels indicating the quadriceps tendon clips

The quadriceps tendon clips (the yellow plastic pieces indicated by circles) connect the quadriceps elastic muscle cords to the quadriceps tendons (yellow straps). One of the clips (for vastus intermedius) is mostly obscured in the photo above by another clip directly anterior to it (middle clip in the photo, for rectus femoris).

To attach an elastic muscle cord to a quadriceps tendon clip, insert the end of the cord with a shorter "tail" (cord after the knot) into the hole and pull the cord into the slot to lock the knot in place, as shown in the video below. When inserting the cord into the clip, be sure that you insert the cord through the labeled side first (you should see the clip label as you're inserting the cord).

Video showing how to attach an elastic muscle cord to a quadriceps tendon clip. The first half of the video shows steps from a front view of the clip; the second half of the video shows the same steps from a side view of the clip.

Attaching a muscle to a bone

Attaching a muscle to a cross-section plate

Attach cord here last

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