Arterial Supply of the Posterior Leg

00:01 Now let's look at the blood supply to the posterior leg.

00:07 So here we remind ourselves of the popliteal artery, and the popliteal artery is then running down once it's giving off the anterior and posterior tibial arteries down between gastrocnemius.

00:19 So the posterior tibial artery is going to run deep to gastrocnemius which we can see here.

00:24 If we then remove gastrocnemius, we see soleus and plantaris, we remove those muscles, we can then see the deep posterior compartment of the leg and here we can see the posterior tibial artery.

00:37 The posterior tibial artery really is coming off in the inferior margin of popliteus where it gives off the anterior tibial artery which will go and supply the anterior compartment.

00:47 But here now descending down the posterior surface.

00:50 Between the superficial and deep compartments is the posterior tibial artery.

00:56 So the posterior tibial artery is running down, it descends alongside the tibial nerve.

01:01 And here both of these structures will pass deep to the flexor retinaculum as they enter onto the sole of the foot.

01:08 Here we can see the fibular artery is coming away from the posterior tibial artery and these will go to supply the lateral compartment of the leg.

01:18 So let's have a look at what this posterior tibial artery supplies.

01:22 Here we've got the popliteal artery that will supply popliteus gastrocnemius and soleus, muscles in the superficial compartment.

01:30 We then have the posterior tibial artery that lies deep to them.

01:33 And that's going to supply muscles in the posterior compartments deep layer.

01:39 Popliteus, tibialis posterior, flexor digitorum longus, and flexor hallucis longus.

01:45 So the muscles of the deep posterior compartment are supplied by the posterior tibial artery.

01:52 Coming off the posterior tibial artery, we have the fibular artery.

01:56 And the fibular artery goes to supply those muscles in the lateral compartment fibularis longus and fibularis brevis.