Fifth metatarsal bone at a glance
- Also called
- fifth metatarsal
- What it is
- The metatarsal of the little toe. One of the five long bones of the forefoot.
- Location
- Lies between the tarsal bones of the midfoot and the proximal phalanx of its toe.
- Function
- Forms the arches and forefoot, bearing weight and acting as a lever in walking.
- Body system
- Skeletal · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA24516 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Has a prominent tuberosity at its base where fibularis brevis inserts, and fibularis tertius inserts on its base.
- Its base articulates with the cuboid.
Clinical relevance
A Jones fracture is a transverse fracture at the junction of the base and shaft (metaphyseal-diaphyseal junction), about 1.5 to 3 cm beyond the tuberosity; it heals poorly because of a blood supply watershed. Avulsion of the tuberosity is common in ankle inversion injuries.
Structures next to the fifth metatarsal bone
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Flexor digiti minimi brevis of foot · muscular
- Third plantar interosseous of foot · muscular
- Fourth lumbrical of foot · muscular
- Fourth metatarsal bone · skeletal
- Flexor digitorum brevis · muscular
- Third lumbrical of foot · muscular
- Second plantar interosseous of foot · muscular
- Oblique head of adductor hallucis · muscular
- Dorsal venous arch of foot · cardiovascular
- Third metatarsal bone · skeletal
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Fifth metatarsal bone (FMA24516). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §7.1 Divisions of the Skeletal System. Rice University, 2022.
- Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.
Related anatomy
Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.