The clinical anatomy of the foot arch The foot has two differently oriented arches, the transverse and longitudinal arches, the latter being divided into the lateral and medial longitudinal arches. The shape of the arch is maintained by the shape of the bones themselves and the strength of the ligaments and muscles. The bones that constitute the arch and the ligaments and muscles that maintain them have a close relationship and influence each other. The longitudinal arch is particularly important; when the longitudinal arch collapses, the transverse arch disappears, but when the transverse arch collapses, the longitudinal arch can still be intact.
Muscle is the third line of defense to maintain the arch of the foot, and it is also the most important line of defense. Foot muscles are divided into two kinds of intrinsic muscles and extrinsic muscles, the former is degenerated and plays little role in human body, and only plays a supplementary role in the maintenance of foot arch.
Therefore, the maintenance of the foot arch mainly relies on the role of extrinsic muscles, such muscles are: 1. It can make the ankle joint dorsal extension, lift the foot forward when stepping, also lift the inner edge of the foot, increase the longitudinal arch, and turn the foot inward.
2. The posterior tibial muscle is along the bottom of the spring ligament and ends at the navicular tuberosity, the cuneus, the dice bone and the base of the second and fourth metatarsals, but the navicular is its main stop. When the posterior tibial muscle contracts, the navicular bone is close to the inner ankle, holding the talar head tightly, strengthening the spring ligament, preventing the talar head from sinking and tilting inward, and turning the whole foot around the talar head into an inward and inward position.
3, peroneus longus muscle through the outer ankle after the outer, dice bone groove to the bottom of the foot, on the base of the first metatarsal and the first cuneiform metatarsal side, and tibialis anterior muscle balance cooperation, such as two strong hanging belt, each foot’s inner and outer side around the bottom of the foot, the arch of the foot upward.
4, gastrocnemius muscle Its role makes the front of the heel plantarflexion, longitudinal arch down, destroying the structure of the foot arch. Therefore, the gastrocnemius muscle contracture or shortening, prone to flatfoot syndrome.
To sum up, it can be seen that the bone arch, which is composed of many bones of unique shape, is normally stable, and once the weight is put on, it is properly lowered so that gravity is transmitted to the ligaments, and when the ligaments reach proper tension, the internal and external muscles of the foot start to contract to assist the ligaments in maintaining the structure of the arch. Therefore, the bones constitute the first line of defense for the arch, the ligaments are the second line of defense, and the muscles are the most important and final third line of defense.
Many strong and complex ligaments, longitudinal and transversal, are distributed on the plantar side of the foot, no matter how strong they are, they cannot bear excessive load without limitation. If no attention is paid to prevent their overload and chronic strain, the plantar ligaments will be gradually stretched and relaxed, and the normal arch structure cannot be maintained. The contraction of the internal and external muscles of the foot can support the arch and prevent the weight from being directly and fully added to the ligaments.
More importantly, the foot muscle can be exercised to become strong and strong, and can actively maintain the arch structure. As for the ligaments, there is no active exercise method to make them stronger. Therefore, the third line of defense, the muscle, is the most important and the only tissue that can take some measures to make it stronger.