Description
The leg contains three joints, the superior, intermediate, and inferior tibiofibular joints, which connects the tibia and the fibula.
The superior tibiofibular joint is the articulation between the lateral condyle of the tibia and the head of the fibula. The superior tibiofibular joint is a plane, synovial, gliding joint and its surfaces are covered by hyaline cartilage. Unlike the inferior tibiofibular joint, it has a fibrous capsule that is attached to the borders of the articular surfaces (Standring, 2016). The fibrous capsule of the superior tibiofibular joint is thick anteriorly and posteriorly and is strengthened by the anterior and posterior ligaments of the fibular head and the interosseous membrane of the leg (Wineski, 2018).
The intermediate, or middle, tibiofibular joint is simply formed by the interosseous membrane, which connects the shafts of the tibia and fibula together. It attaches to the interosseous borders along the length of the tibia and fibula. The anterior and posterior tibiofibular ligaments reinforce the expanded end of the interosseous membrane.
The inferior tibiofibular joint, or tibiofibular syndesmosis, is the articulation between the rough concave surface of the fibular notch at the distal end of the tibia and the rough medial convex surface on the distal end of the fibula. The inferior tibiofibular joint is a syndesmosis, meaning that it is a fibrous joint. The ligaments of the inferior tibiofibular joint are the interosseous ligament, anterior and posterior tibiofibular ligaments, and the inferior transverse ligament. These ligaments are responsible for maintaining the stability of the inferior tibiofibular joint.
All of the ligaments of the tibiofibular joints and the interosseous membrane pass inferiorly, from the tibia to the fibula, therefore, they resist downward pull on the fibula caused by the muscles that attach to it. Slight upward movement of the fibula may occur during dorsiflexion at the ankle joint (Moore, Dalley and Agur, 2013).
References
Moore, K. L., Dalley, A. F. and Agur, A. M. R. (2013) Clinically Oriented Anatomy. Clinically Oriented Anatomy 7th edn.: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Standring, S. (2016) Gray's Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice. Gray's Anatomy Series 41st edn.: Elsevier Limited.
Wineski, L. E. (2018) Snell's Clinical Anatomy by Regions. 10 edn.: Wolters Kluwer Health.
