Lumbrical muscle (foot)

Lumbrical muscle of the foot
Muscles of the sole of the foot. Second layer. (Lumbricals visible at bottom.)
Latin musculus lumbricalis pedis
Gray's subject #131 493
Origin Medial borders of long flexor tendons
Insertion    Proximal phalanges and extensor tendons of the 4 lateral toes
Artery Medial and Lateral plantar arteries
Nerve medial and lateral plantar nerves (S3)
Actions Flexes metatarsophalangeal joints, extends interphalangeal joints
For the muscle of the hand, see Lumbrical muscle (hand).

The lumbricals are four small skeletal muscles, accessory to the tendons of the flexor digitorum longus and numbered from the medial side of the foot; they arise from these tendons, as far back as their angles of division, each springing from two tendons, except the first.

The muscles end in tendons, which pass forward on the medial sides of the four lesser toes, and are inserted into the expansions of the tendons of the Extensor digitorum longus on the dorsal surfaces of the first phalanges. All four lumbricals insert into extensor hoods of the phalanges, thus creating extension at the inter-phalangeal joints. However as the tendons also pass inferior to the metatarsal phalangeal joints it creates flexion at this joint.

Variations

Absence of one or more; doubling of the third or fourth even the fifth. Insertion partly or wholly into the first phalanges.

Innervation

The most medial lumbrical is innervated by the medial plantar nerve while the remaining three lumbricals are supplied by the lateral plantar nerve.

External links

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained within it may be outdated.