Tibialis posterior at a glance
- What it is
- The deepest muscle of the posterior leg compartment.
- Location
- Originates from the interosseous membrane and adjacent posterior tibia and fibula, and inserts onto the navicular tuberosity, cuneiforms, cuboid and bases of metatarsals 2 to 4.
- Function
- Plantarflexes and inverts the foot and supports the medial longitudinal arch.
- Body system
- Muscular · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA65018 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Innervation: tibial nerve (L4–L5)
- Blood supply: posterior tibial and fibular arteries
Clinical relevance
Tibialis posterior dysfunction is a common cause of adult acquired flatfoot.
Structures next to the tibialis posterior
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Anterior tibial artery · cardiovascular
- Tibialis anterior · muscular
- Fibularis longus · muscular
- Posterior tibial artery · cardiovascular
- Posterior tibial vein · cardiovascular
- Tibia · skeletal
- Interosseous membrane of leg · skeletal
- Fibula · skeletal
- Soleus · muscular
- Small saphenous vein · cardiovascular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Tibialis posterior (FMA65018). 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.