9.5: Muscles of the Lower Leg and Foot

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The muscles of the lower leg, called simply the leg by anatomists, largely move the foot and toes. The major muscles of the lower leg, other than the gastrocnemius which is cut away, are shown in Figure 9.12. The gastrocnemius muscle has two large bellies, called the medial head and the lateral head, and inserts into the calcaneus bone of the foot via its calcaneal tendon (also known as the Achilles tendon.) The soleus muscle is deep to the gastrocnemius, and the two muscles serve together as the calf of the leg. The gastrocnemius muscle is shown in Figure 9.13.

The left panel shows the superficial muscles that move the feet and the center panel shows the posterior view of the same muscles. The right panel shows the deep muscles of the right lower leg.

The gastrocnemius muscle from the rear — Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): **The gastrocnemius muscle** (CC-BY-SA, Wikimedia, Nikai)

Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\) shows the muscles of the feet.

Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): Muscles of the feet (CC-BY-4.0, OpenStax, Human Anatomy)

LAB 9 EXERCISES 9-5

1. Using the full-scale leg model, locate and identify the muscles of the lower leg listed in the table below.

2. For each of the muscles of the leg, give the location of that muscle and what effect contracting that muscle has.

Muscle	Location & description	Action
Gastrocnemius
Soleus
Tibialis anterior
Fibularis longus

LICENSES AND ATTRIBUTIONS

CC LICENSED CONTENT, ORIGINAL

A&P Labs. Authored by: Ross Whitwam. Provided by: Mississippi University for Women. Located at: http://www.muw.edu. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

CC LICENSED CONTENT, SPECIFIC ATTRIBUTION

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\). The muscles of the lower leg. Authored by: OpenStax College. Located at: http://cnx.org/resources/adeb0a7399faaf57fe6dd39c017a6d25a03e6916/1123_Muscles_of_the_Leg_that_Move_the_Foot_ and_Toes.jpg. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

Figure\(\PageIndex{2}\). The gastrocnemius muscle. Authored by: Nikai . Located at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F...trocnemius.png. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\). The muscles of the feet.. Authored by: OpenStax College. Located at: https://cnx.org/resources/747c45c729...f_the_Foot.jpg. Licens e: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike