The medial plantar artery (internal plantar artery), much smaller than the

lateral plantar artery The lateral plantar artery (external plantar artery), much larger than the medial, passes obliquely lateralward and forward to the base of the fifth metatarsal bone. It then turns medialward to the interval between the bases of the first and secon ...

, passes forward along the medial side of the foot. It is at first situated above the abductor hallucis, and then between it and the

flexor digitorum brevis The flexor digitorum brevis is a muscle which lies in the middle of the sole of the foot, immediately above the central part of the plantar aponeurosis, with which it is firmly united. Its deep surface is separated from the lateral plantar ves ...

, both of which it supplies. At the base of the first

metatarsal The metatarsal bones, or metatarsus, are a group of five long bones in the foot, located between the tarsal bones of the hind- and mid-foot and the phalanges of the toes. Lacking individual names, the metatarsal bones are numbered from the me ...

bone, where it is much diminished in size, it passes along the medial border of the first toe, anastomosing with the

first dorsal metatarsal artery The first dorsal metatarsal artery is a small artery on the back of the foot. It runs forward on the first interosseous dorsalis muscle, and at the cleft between the great and second toes divides into two branches, one of which passes beneath the ...

. Small superficial digital branches accompany the digital branches of the

medial plantar nerve The medial plantar nerve (internal plantar nerve) is the larger of the two terminal divisions of the tibial nerve (medial and lateral plantar nerve), which accompanies the medial plantar artery. From its origin under the laciniate ligament it p ...

and join the plantar metatarsal arteries of the first three spaces.

Branches

A superficial branch which supplies a plantar digital artery to the medial side of the 1st toe, and a deep branch which assists in supplying blood to the plantar metatarsal arteries.

Additional images

File:Gray357.png, Coronal section through right talocrural and talocalcaneal joints.

References

External links

* * http://www.dartmouth.edu/~humananatomy/figures/chapter_17/17-3.HTM Arteries of the lower limb {{circulatory-stub