Arterial Supply of the Anterior Leg

00:01 Now let's turn our attention to the vascular supply of the anterior compartment of the leg.

00:07 So previously, we've spoken about popliteal artery passing down and giving rise to both the anterior and the posterior tibial arteries.

00:16 And this occurs at the inferior border of popliteus.

00:20 The anterior tibial artery is going to supply the anterior compartment.

00:23 So it needs to make its way through the interosseous membrane to get into the anterior aspect.

00:29 And it does that by passing through the superior aperture of the interosseous membrane, which is running between the tibia and the fibula.

00:38 So now we can see the anterior tibial artery emanating through the superior aperture of this interosseous membrane.

00:45 It then descends alongside the lateral aspects of the tibia to enter into the dorsum of the foot.

00:52 Here we see it running alongside extensor hallucis longus.

00:56 If we add tibialis anterior on top, then we hide the anterior tibial artery.

01:00 So that serves to somewhat protect it.

01:02 We can then see it locating midway between the two malleoli that form the ankle joint.

01:08 Remember the medial malleolus comes from the tibia and the lateral malleolus comes from the fibula.

01:13 The anterior tibial artery then continues on to the dorsum of the foot where it becomes the dorsalis pedis artery.

01:20 The dorsalis pedis artery then supplies the dorsum of the foot.

01:24 So the anterior tibial artery on its course supplies those three muscles of the anterior compartment.

01:30 Tibialis anterior, extensor digitorum longus, and extensor hallucis longus.