Plantaris at a glance
- What it is
- A small, inconstant calf muscle with a very long thin tendon.
- Location
- Originates from the inferior part of the lateral supracondylar line of the femur and the oblique popliteal ligament, and inserts onto the calcaneus, usually medial to the calcaneal tendon.
- Function
- Weakly assists plantarflexion of the ankle and flexion of the knee.
- Body system
- Muscular · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA22560 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Innervation: tibial nerve (S1–S2)
- Absent in roughly 7–10 percent of people
Clinical relevance
Its tendon is used as a graft in tendon reconstruction.
Structures next to the plantaris
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Soleus · muscular
- Tibia · skeletal
- Small saphenous vein · cardiovascular
- Anterior tibial vein · cardiovascular
- Interosseous membrane of leg · skeletal
- Anterior tibial artery · cardiovascular
- Fibula · skeletal
- Tibialis posterior · muscular
- Tibialis anterior · muscular
- Fibularis longus · muscular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Plantaris (FMA22560). 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.