Quick Facts
Origin: Posterior tibial artery in the proximal one third of the posterior compartment of the leg.
Course: Descends along the posterior leg between the tibialis posterior and flexor hallucis longus muscles.
Branches: Nutrient artery, perforating, communicating, lateral malleolar, and calcaneal branches.
Supplied Structures: Soleus, tibialis posterior, flexor digitorum longus and flexor hallucis longus muscles, fibula, calcaneus, surrounding joints, connective tissue structures, and overlying cutaneous tissue.
Related parts of the anatomy
Origin
The fibular artery originates from the posterior tibial artery. This is about 2.5 cm distal to the popliteus muscle. The fibular artery may arise directly from the popliteal artery or, occasionally, more distally in the leg. Sometimes, the popliteal artery may trifurcate directly into the anterior and posterior tibial and fibular arteries (Standring, 2016).
Course
The fibular artery descends deep to the transverse intermuscular septum and overlying soleus muscle and superficial to the tibialis posterior muscle. More distally, it lies between tibialis posterior and flexor hallucis longus muscle, within a fibrous canal. Sometimes, it descends within the flexor hallucis longus muscle.
At the inferior tibiofibular syndesmosis, it divides into calcaneal branches that surround the lateral and posterior aspects of the calcaneus.
Branches
The fibular artery gives off:
- nutrient artery of the fibula;
- perforating branch;
- communicating branch;
- lateral malleolar branch;
- calcaneal branches.
Supplied Structures
The fibular artery contributes to the supply of the deep muscles of the posterior compartment (soleus, tibialis posterior, and flexor hallucis longus muscles) and lateral compartment of the leg (fibularis longus and fibularis brevis muscles). It also supplies the fibula, talus, and calcaneus, as well as the surrounding joints and connective tissue structures.
References
Standring, S. (2016) Gray's Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice. Gray's Anatomy Series 41st edition edn.: Elsevier Limited.
Learn more about this topic from other Elsevier products
Fibular Artery
This flap is based on the fibular artery, a branch of the posterior tibial artery 2 – 3 cm below the tendinous arch of the soleus, situated in the deep flexor compartment, giving off perforator branches which enter the lateral compartment to supply the fibula, muscles, overlying subcutaneous tissue and skin [25], Figs.
