Medial head of gastrocnemius at a glance
- What it is
- The larger medial head of the superficial calf muscle.
- Location
- Origin: popliteal surface of the femur above the medial condyle. Insertion: posterior calcaneus via the calcaneal tendon.
- Function
- Plantarflexes the ankle and flexes the knee.
- Body system
- Muscular · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA45957 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Innervation: tibial nerve (S1–S2)
- Blood supply: sural arteries
- It descends lower than the lateral head before joining the calcaneal tendon.
Clinical relevance
Tears at its junction with the calcaneal tendon ('tennis leg') are common in middle-aged sportspeople.
Structures next to the medial head of gastrocnemius
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Lateral head of gastrocnemius · muscular
- Popliteus · muscular
- Inferior medial genicular artery · cardiovascular
- Anterior tibial vein · cardiovascular
- Plantaris · muscular
- Soleus · muscular
- Anterior tibial recurrent artery · cardiovascular
- Inferior lateral genicular artery · cardiovascular
- Tibia · skeletal
- Small saphenous vein · cardiovascular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Medial head of gastrocnemius (FMA45957). 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.