At the foot there is skeletal musculature like at the other body parts. These foot muscles are divided topographically into the muscles of the back of the foot (dorsum pedis) and the sole of the foot (planta pedis). Furthermore, the muscles of the sole of the foot are divided into the muscles of the big toe and small toe and the muscles in the middle area.
In general, a distinction is made between short and long muscles on the foot. The muscle bellies of the long foot muscles lie on the lower leg and only their tendons run along the foot. The muscles on the foot enable the different degrees of movement of the foot and are also involved in stabilizing the foot when walking.
Short foot muscles
The short muscles of the back of the foot rest on top of the bones and are also called intrinsic muscle group, because they are located directly in the area of the foot. A distinction is made between a toe extensor, which pulls alone to the big toe. This is called the Musculus extensor hallucis brevis and is responsible for the movement, especially the stretching and pulling of the big toe.
It runs from the front of the heel bone (calcaneus) to the base of the end member of the big toe. Next to this muscle is the short toe extensor, which is called the muscle extensor digitorum brevis in medical terminology. This also originates at the front of the calcaneus and is divided into three muscle bellies.
From each of these muscle bellies, a tendon emerges, which starts relatively far forward at the second to fourth toe. This muscle also causes the toes to be stretched and pulled towards the lower leg. This movement is called dorsiflexion.
It is a flexion in the direction of the back of the foot. The little and thus fifth toe often has no tendon that originates from the muscle. A tendon is only very rarely present and in general, the anatomy can be very different, so that some tendons may be missing. Both muscles mentioned above are excited by the same nerve, the nervus fibularis, which allows the movement to be performed.
All articles in this series:
