Plantar venous arch

At a glance

English

Plantar venous arch

Latin (TA2)

Arcus venosus plantaris

System

Vein

Region

Foot

Side

Paired, left and right

About the plantar venous arch

The plantar venous arch is the deep venous channel of the sole. It curves across the bases of the metatarsal bones, deep to the long flexor tendons and close against the plantar arterial arch, which it follows. Like most deep veins of the limb it is a companion of an artery rather than a vessel running freely in the fat, and it is usually described as the deep plantar venous arch to separate it from the fine superficial network under the skin of the sole.

It is built from the plantar metatarsal veins. One runs back in each of the four spaces between the metatarsals, collecting blood from the toes through the plantar digital veins and from the interosseous muscles. As they pass back these veins are joined by perforating veins that pierce the spaces from the dorsum, so the deep sole and the dorsal venous arch on top of the foot are tied together.

From the arch, blood flows backwards in two channels, the plantar veins of the medial and lateral side, each lying with the artery of the same name. Before they leave the foot both exchange blood with the superficial system, the medial side with the great saphenous vein and the lateral side with the small saphenous vein. Behind the medial malleolus the two plantar veins come together to give rise to the posterior tibial veins, which carry the blood up the back of the leg.

The arch matters because the sole acts as a venous pump. Each step presses on the plantar veins and squeezes blood up into the leg, a mechanism that works with the calf muscle pump to return blood against gravity. Clots can start in the deep veins of the foot, and loss of the pump in people who cannot bear weight is one reason immobility favours deep vein thrombosis.

Course and drainage

Begins at

Formed by the union of the plantar metatarsal veins from the four intermetatarsal spaces, which also receive perforating veins from the dorsum.

Drains into

Drains backwards through the two plantar veins, medial and lateral, which unite behind the medial malleolus and so give rise to the posterior tibial veins.

Drains

Drains the deep tissues of the sole, the plantar side of the toes and the interosseous muscles.