Tibialis anterior at a glance
- What it is
- The main dorsiflexor on the front of the leg.
- Location
- Originates from the lateral tibial condyle, upper two thirds of the lateral tibial surface and interosseous membrane, and inserts onto the medial cuneiform and base of the first metatarsal.
- Function
- Dorsiflexes and inverts the foot.
- Body system
- Muscular · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA22544 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Innervation: deep fibular nerve (L4–L5)
- Blood supply: anterior tibial artery
- Its tendon is the most medial and prominent tendon at the front of the ankle.
Clinical relevance
Weakness causes foot drop.
Structures next to the tibialis anterior
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Tibialis posterior · muscular
- Fibularis longus · muscular
- Anterior tibial artery · cardiovascular
- Interosseous membrane of leg · skeletal
- Tibia · skeletal
- Fibula · skeletal
- Extensor digitorum longus · muscular
- Posterior tibial artery · cardiovascular
- Flexor digitorum longus · muscular
- Posterior tibial vein · cardiovascular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Tibialis anterior (FMA22544). 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.