Medial plantar veins
Venae plantares mediales
Deep veins along the medial side of the sole that accompany the medial plantar artery and help form the posterior tibial veins.
At a glance
- English
- Medial plantar veins
- Latin (TA2)
- Venae plantares mediales
- System
- Vein
- Region
- Foot
- Side
- Paired, left and right
About the medial plantar veins
The medial plantar veins are paired companion veins (venae comitantes) of the medial plantar artery. They drain the medial part of the sole, including the great toe and the muscles along the medial border of the foot, and they are smaller than the lateral plantar veins, matching the smaller size of their artery.
They begin from the plantar digital veins of the medial toes, especially the great toe, and from small veins draining the medial side of the forefoot. From there they run backwards along the medial border of the sole with the medial plantar artery and the medial plantar nerve. In the forefoot and midfoot they lie in the interval between abductor hallucis on the medial side and flexor digitorum brevis more laterally, and near the great toe they pass close to flexor hallucis brevis.
Towards the heel the veins pass deep to abductor hallucis and reach the region behind the medial malleolus, under the flexor retinaculum. There they meet the lateral plantar veins, and the two sets join to form the posterior tibial veins, which run up the back of the leg with the posterior tibial artery and nerve in the tarsal tunnel. Along their course the medial plantar veins communicate with the superficial veins of the medial border of the foot, which belong to the great saphenous system, through small perforating veins.
Like the lateral set, the medial plantar veins are emptied with each step as weight presses on the sole, and their valves send blood upwards towards the calf. They lie in the tarsal tunnel with the tibial nerve and its branches, so swollen or varicose veins here are one of the causes of compression of the nerve, known as tarsal tunnel syndrome, which gives burning pain and tingling in the sole.
Course and drainage
- Begins at
- The plantar digital veins of the medial toes and veins of the medial forefoot.
- Drains into
- Join the lateral plantar veins behind the medial malleolus to form the posterior tibial veins.
- Drains
- Drain the great toe, the medial part of the sole and the muscles along the medial border of the foot.
Anthromica
See the medial plantar veins where it really sits, with every layer of the body around it.
- Every layer, one body. Peel from muscle to bone, nerve, vessel and organ, and turn it any way.
- English and Latin. Every structure named the way your exam names it.
- Quiz until it sticks. Short drills on the structures you keep missing.
Free to start. No card.
