Posterior tibial artery
Arteria tibialis posterior
The artery of the back of the leg and the sole, arising from the popliteal artery and passing behind the medial malleolus into the foot.
At a glance
- English
- Posterior tibial artery
- Latin (TA2)
- Arteria tibialis posterior
- System
- Artery
- Region
- Foot
- Side
- Paired, left and right
About the posterior tibial artery
The posterior tibial artery is the larger terminal branch of the popliteal artery. It begins at the lower border of the popliteus muscle, behind the upper tibia, and descends through the deep part of the flexor compartment at the back of the leg. Its first few centimetres are often described as the tibiofibular trunk, from which the fibular artery branches.
In the leg it lies on tibialis posterior and then on flexor digitorum longus, deep to the soleus and gastrocnemius, with paired posterior tibial veins and the tibial nerve beside it. In the lower leg it comes to lie closer to the surface, covered only by skin and fascia. It passes behind the medial malleolus, in front of the calcaneal tendon, and enters the foot under the flexor retinaculum through the tarsal tunnel. Beneath the retinaculum, deep to abductor hallucis, it divides into the medial and lateral plantar arteries.
Its branches include the fibular artery, muscular branches to the posterior compartment, a nutrient artery to the tibia, a circumflex fibular branch, a communicating branch to the fibular artery, medial malleolar branches and calcaneal branches to the medial side of the heel. Through its plantar branches it is the main supply of the sole.
The pulse is felt behind the medial malleolus, halfway between it and the calcaneal tendon, and is part of every assessment for peripheral arterial disease; unlike the dorsalis pedis pulse it is almost always present in healthy people. Because the tibial nerve runs with it into the foot, the artery is the landmark for a tibial nerve block, with anaesthetic placed around the vessel just beyond the flexor retinaculum near the calcaneus.
Course and supply
- Arises from
- The popliteal artery, at the lower border of popliteus in the popliteal fossa, through the tibiofibular trunk.
- Ends in
- Divides under the flexor retinaculum into the medial and lateral plantar arteries.
- Supplies
- Supplies the muscles at the back of the leg, the tibia, the medial ankle and heel, and through its plantar branches the sole of the foot.
Anthromica
See the posterior tibial artery 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.
