The bones of the foot do a lot of work, and they need to be healthy for a person to be mobile and comfortable. We work hard at Knoxville Footcare to help our patients feel informed about their medical care, and we want everybody to feel confident speaking with us. We thought it would be a good idea to name the bones of the foot and describe their location, so patients will feel more at-ease if they ever hear them referred to in the future.
The two bones of the lower leg connect to the talus at the top of the foot. The talus, which is also known as the ankle bone, rests atop the calcaneus, or heel bone. Bones called the tarsals fan out around the talus and calcaneus, forming a downward slope from the inside of the foot to the outside. The navicular bone is the tarsal in front of the talus, and three tarsal bones called the cuneiforms are in a row in front of it. The cuboid bone is the tarsal on the outer portion of the foot in front of the calcaneus.
The metatarsal bones form the middle of the foot. They are long and thin, and each one leads to a toe. The first three metatarsals each connect to a cuneiform bone, and the last two connect to the cuboid. The toes themselves are made of three bones called phalanges, except for the big toe, which is made of two. The phalanges connecting to the metatarsals are called proximal phalanges, and the ones at the tips of the toes are called distal. (The ones in between are just called middle phalanges). This comes to twenty-six bones in all, with the same structure mirrored in both feet.
Knoxville Footcare is located at 1932 Alcoa Highway Building C, Suite 480, Knoxville, Tennessee, 37920. Visit us at Knoxville Footcare or call 865-632-5700.