Intermediate cuneiform bone at a glance
- What it is
- The smallest of the three cuneiform bones.
- Location
- Lies between the medial and lateral cuneiforms, in front of the navicular and behind the second metatarsal.
- Function
- Helps form the transverse arch of the foot and anchors the second metatarsal.
- Body system
- Skeletal · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA24524 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- It is the shortest cuneiform, so the base of the second metatarsal is set back between the medial and lateral cuneiforms, locking the tarsometatarsal joints.
- It articulates with the navicular behind, the medial and lateral cuneiforms on either side and the second metatarsal in front.
Clinical relevance
It is involved in Lisfranc (tarsometatarsal) injuries, which disrupt the recessed base of the second metatarsal.
Structures next to the intermediate cuneiform bone
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Lateral cuneiform bone · skeletal
- Medial cuneiform bone · skeletal
- Dorsal venous arch of foot · cardiovascular
- Dorsalis pedis artery · cardiovascular
- Navicular bone of foot · skeletal
- Extensor hallucis brevis · muscular
- Deep plantar artery · cardiovascular
- Lateral tarsal artery · cardiovascular
- Cuboid bone · skeletal
- Plantar arch · cardiovascular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Intermediate cuneiform bone (FMA24524). 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.