Medial plantar artery
Description:
One of the small arteries of the lower limb
located in and supply (the sole of foot),
Together with the medial plantar nerve and
vein, forms the medial neurovascular cord of the
foot. Medial plantar artery is the smaller
terminal branch of the posterior tibial artery.
It passes along the medial side of the sole
where the medial plantar nerve runs lateral to it.
Origin:
medial plantar artery is a terminal branch of
the posterior tibial artery which is the posterior
branch of the popliteal artery which is the
continuation of the femoral artery which is the
continuation of external iliac artery which is a
branch of the common iliac artery which is a
division of the abdominal aorta.
Beginning:
It arises deep to the flexor retinaculum,
midway between the medial malleolus
and the medial calcaneal tubercle
Course
-At first
It passes into the sole of the foot deep to abductor hallucis. Distally, in the
groove between the abductor hallucis and the flexor digitorum brevis
muscles.
-Near the first metatarsal base
Its size diminished by giving muscular branches, is further reduced to a
superficial stem.
The main trunk of the medial plantar artery then runs on to reach the medial
border of the hallux, where it anastomoses with a branch of the first plantar
metatarsal artery.
Relations
Laterally:medial plantar nerve
Deep to:abductor hallucis muscle
(at first)
Between:abductor hallucis and
flexor digitorum
brevis muscles (distally)
It supplies
Muscles
-Flexor digitorum brevis muscle
-Abductor hallucis muscle
- Flexor accessorius
Superficially: it supplies the skin
on the medial aspect of the sole by its
larger superficial branch
Branches:
-Deep branch (or branches) that
supplies mainly muscles of the great toe
-The larger superficial branch
-Superficial digital branches that accompany digital branches of the medial
plantar nerve, the more lateral of which anastomose with medial plantar
metatarsal arteries.
Ending:
It ends by joining the digital
branch of the deep plantar
arch, which supplies the
medial side of the great toe.
Cadavers
Cadaver showing
the medial
plantar artery
(medial side of
foot)
Cadaver shows the
medial plantar artery (Plantar
side of foot)
Refrences
• Anne MR Agur, Arthur F Dalley, and Keith L. Moore’s Clinically Oriented Anatomy 8th
edition/ Copyright © 2018 Wolters Kluwer / pages (776.FIGURE 7 .73.-779)
• Byas Deb Ghosh‘s Human Anatomy for Students.copyright© 2013, Jaypee Brothers
Medical Publishers.second edition.pages(349)
• Susan Standring, Neel Anand, Rolfe Birch, Patricia Collins, Alan R Crossman, Michael
Gleeson , Girish Jawaheer, Ariana L Smith, Jonathan D Spratt, Mark D Stringer, R Shane
Tubbs, Richard Tunstall, Alan J Wein, Caroline B Wigley ‘s Gray's Anatomy The
Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice. copyright © 2016, Elsevier Limited. Forty-first
edition. Pages(1444-1446.Fig. 84.25-1414)
• Adam W. M. Mitchell, Richard L. Drake, and Wayne Vogl’s Gray's Anatomy for Students.
4th edition/ Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. / pages (653,654)
• J.A. Gosling, P.F. Harris, J.R. Humpherson, I. Whitmore and P.L.T. Willan ‘s Human
Anatomy Color Atlas and Textbook.copyright© 2008, Elsevier Limited.Fifth
edition.pages(256.Fig. 6.5)
• Quadratus plantae by Derek W. Moore for orthobullets
https://www.orthobullets.com/anatomy/10095/quadratus-plantae
• Medial plantar artery for anatomy.app
https://anatomy.app/encyclopedia/medial-plantar-artery