Third lumbrical of foot at a glance
- What it is
- A small intrinsic muscle of the sole attached to the flexor digitorum longus tendons.
- Location
- Arises from the adjacent sides of the flexor digitorum longus tendons to the third and fourth toes and inserts into the medial side of the extensor expansion of the fourth toe.
- Function
- Flexes the metatarsophalangeal joint and extends the interphalangeal joints of the toe.
- Body system
- Muscular · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA37485 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Innervation: deep branch of the lateral plantar nerve (S2–S3)
- Lies in the second layer of the sole; it is bipennate, arising from two adjacent flexor digitorum longus tendons.
Structures next to the third lumbrical of foot
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Second lumbrical of foot · muscular
- Fourth lumbrical of foot · muscular
- Second plantar interosseous of foot · muscular
- Flexor digitorum brevis · muscular
- Oblique head of adductor hallucis · muscular
- Fourth metatarsal bone · skeletal
- Third metatarsal bone · skeletal
- First plantar interosseous of foot · muscular
- Transverse head of adductor hallucis · muscular
- First lumbrical of foot · muscular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Third lumbrical of foot (FMA37485). 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.