The front of the leg
The tibialis anterior lies just outside the sharp front edge of the tibia. Its tendon crosses the front of the ankle to the inner side of the foot. It lifts the front of the foot so that the toes clear the ground as the leg swings forward in walking, and it lowers the foot gently after the heel strikes.
Muscles on the front of the leg, with the tibialis anterior beside the tibia and the toe extensors, their tendons held at the ankle by the transverse and cruciate crural ligaments, Gray's Anatomy, 1918, figure 437Wikimedia Commons, Henry Vandyke Carter, Public domain (Gray437.png)
Beside it the toe extensors lift the toes, and bands of fascia, the retinacula, hold their tendons down at the ankle like straps. On the outer side the fibularis longus and brevis turn the sole outward and steady the ankle. The tendon of the longus crosses under the sole and helps hold up the arch.
Tendons crossing the inner side of the ankle in their sheaths, the tibialis anterior under the cruciate ligament and the tendo calcaneus behind, Gray's Anatomy, 1918, figure 442Wikimedia Commons, Henry Vandyke Carter, Public domain (Gray442.png)
These muscles are supplied by branches of the common fibular nerve, which winds round the neck of the fibula just under the skin. If it is damaged there, the foot hangs down and the toes drag, so the person lifts the knee high with each step. This is called foot drop.
Sources
- Susan Standring (ed.), Gray's Anatomy, 42nd ed. (2020), chapters on the leg and on the ankle and foot.
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