Malleolus

This article deals with human anatomy. For other organisms, see respective articles, e.g. Solifugae, or see malleolus, malleus, or Malleus (disambiguation)
malleolus

Coronal section through right talocrural and talocalcaneal joints.

Back of left lower extremity. (Medial malleolus labeled at bottom right.)
Details
Identifiers
Latin malleolus, malleoli
Dorlands
/Elsevier
m_02/12511187
TA A02.5.06.020
A02.5.07.014

Anatomical terms of bone

A malleolus[help 1] is the bony prominence on each side of the ankle.

Each leg is supported by two bones, the tibia on the inner side (medial) of the leg and the fibula on the outer side (lateral) of the leg. The medial malleolus is the prominence on the inner side of the ankle, formed by the lower end of the tibia. The lateral malleolus is the prominence on the outer side of the ankle, formed by the lower end of the fibula.

Medial malleolus

The medial surface of the lower extremity of tibia is prolonged downward to form a strong pyramidal process, flattened from without inward - the medial malleolus.

Structures that pass behind medial malleolus deep to flexor retinaculum:

Lateral malleolus

The lower extremity of the fibula, also called the distal extremity or external malleolus, is of a pyramidal form and somewhat flattened from side to side; it descends to a lower level than the medial malleolus.

Additional images

See also

Notes

  1. The word malleolus (/məˈlələs, mæ-/[1][2]), plural malleoli (/məˈləˌl, mæ-/), comes from Latin and means "small hammer". (It is cognate with mallet.)

References

  1. "Malleolus". Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
  2. "Malleolus". OxfordDictionaries.com. OUP. Retrieved 2016-01-22.

This article incorporates text in the public domain from the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, February 20, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.