Flexor digitorum longus at a glance
- What it is
- A deep posterior leg muscle whose tendon passes behind the medial malleolus.
- Location
- Origin: posterior surface of the tibia. Insertion: bases of the distal phalanges of toes 2–5.
- Function
- Flexes the lateral four toes and weakly plantarflexes and inverts the foot.
- Body system
- Muscular · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA65016 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Innervation: tibial nerve (S2–S3)
- Blood supply: posterior tibial artery
Structures next to the flexor digitorum longus
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Flexor hallucis longus · muscular
- Extensor hallucis longus · muscular
- Extensor digitorum longus · muscular
- Tibialis anterior · muscular
- Tibialis posterior · muscular
- Fibularis longus · muscular
- Posterior tibial vein · cardiovascular
- Anterior tibial artery · cardiovascular
- Posterior tibial artery · cardiovascular
- Fibularis brevis · muscular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Flexor digitorum longus (FMA65016). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §11.2 Naming Skeletal Muscles. 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.