The human leg, in the general word sense, is the entire lower limb of the human body, including the foot, thigh and even the hip or gluteal region. However, the definition in human anatomy refers only to the section of the lower limb extending from the knee to the ankle, also known as the crus. Legs are used for standing, and all forms of locomotion including recreational such as dancing, and constitute a significant portion of a person's mass. Female legs generally have greater hip anteversion and tibiofemoral angles, but shorter femur and tibial lengths than those in males.
The great saphenous vein is a large, subcutaneous, superficial vein of the leg. It is the longest vein in the body, running along the length of the lower limb, returning blood from the foot, leg and thigh to the deep femoral vein at the femoral triangle.
In the human body, the cuboid bone is one of the seven tarsal bones of the foot.
The metatarsal bones, or metatarsus are a group of five long bones in the foot, located between the tarsal bones of the hind- and mid-foot and the phalanges of the toes. Lacking individual names, the metatarsal bones are numbered from the medial side : the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth metatarsal. The metatarsals are analogous to the metacarpal bones of the hand. The lengths of the metatarsal bones in humans are, in descending order: second, third, fourth, fifth and first.
In anatomy, there are two posterior tibial veins of the lower limb. They receive blood from the medial and lateral plantar veins and drain the posterior compartment of the leg and the plantar surface of the foot to the popliteal vein which it forms when it joins with the anterior tibial vein.
In human anatomy, the dorsalis pedis artery, is a blood vessel of the lower limb that carries oxygenated blood to the dorsal surface of the foot. It is located 1/3 from medial malleolus. It arises at the anterior aspect of the ankle joint and is a continuation of the anterior tibial artery. It terminates at the proximal part of the first intermetatarsal space, where it divides into two branches, the first dorsal metatarsal artery and the deep plantar artery. The dorsalis pedis communicates with the plantar blood supply of the foot through the deep plantar artery.
In human anatomy, the dorsal interossei of the foot are four muscles situated between the metatarsal bones.
In human anatomy, plantar interossei muscles are three muscles located between the metatarsal bones in the foot.
The frontal vein begins on the forehead in a venous plexus which communicates with the frontal branches of the superficial temporal vein. The veins converge to form a single trunk, which runs downward near the middle line of the forehead parallel with the vein of the opposite side. The two veins are joined, at the root of the nose, by a transverse branch, called the nasal arch, which receives some small veins from the dorsum of the nose. At the root of the nose the veins diverge, and, each at the medial angle of the orbit, joins the supraorbital vein, to form the angular vein. Occasionally the frontal veins join to form a single trunk, which bifurcates at the root of the nose into the two angular veins.
The lateral plantar artery, much larger than the medial, passes obliquely lateralward and forward to the base of the fifth metatarsal bone.
The plantar metatarsal arteries are four in number, arising from the convexity of the plantar arch. They run forward between the metatarsal bones and in contact with the Interossei. They are located in the fourth layer of the foot.
The medial plantar artery, much smaller than the lateral plantar artery, passes forward along the medial side of the foot.
The deep plantar artery descends into the sole of the foot, between the two heads of the first Interosseous dorsalis, and unites with the termination of the lateral plantar artery, to complete the plantar arch.
The plantar digital veins arise from plexuses on the plantar surfaces of the digits, and, after sending intercapitular veins to join the dorsal digital veins, unite to form four metatarsal veins.
The internal cerebral veins drain the deep parts of the hemisphere and are two in number; each internal cerebral vein is formed near the interventricular foramina by the union of the superior thalamostriate vein and the superior choroid vein.
The plantar arch is a circulatory anastomosis formed from:
On the dorsum of the foot the dorsal digital veins receive, in the clefts between the toes, the intercapitular veins from the plantar venous arch and join to form short common digital veins which unite across the distal ends of the metatarsal bones in a dorsal venous arch.
The second metatarsal bone is a long bone in the foot. It is the longest of the metatarsal bones, being prolonged backward and held firmly into the recess formed by the three cuneiform bones. The second metatarsal forms joints with the second proximal phalanx through the metatarsophalangeal joint, the cuneiform bones, third metatarsal and occasionally the first metatarsal bone.
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Gray's Anatomy is an English language textbook of human anatomy originally written by Henry Gray and illustrated by Henry Vandyke Carter. Earlier editions were called Anatomy: Descriptive and Surgical, Anatomy of the Human Body and Gray's Anatomy: Descriptive and Applied, but the book's name is commonly shortened to, and later editions are titled, Gray's Anatomy. The book is widely regarded as an extremely influential work on the subject, and has continued to be revised and republished from its initial publication in 1858 to the present day. The latest edition of the book, the 41st, was published in September 2015.
