The anterior compartment of the leg is a

fascial compartment A fascial compartment is a section within the body that contains Skeletal muscle, muscles and nerves and is surrounded by deep fascia. In the human body, the Limb (anatomy), limbs can each be divided into two segments – the upper limb can be di ...

of the lower

leg A leg is a weight-bearing and locomotive anatomical structure, usually having a columnar shape. During locomotion, legs function as "extensible struts". The combination of movements at all joints can be modeled as a single, linear element cap ...

. It contains muscles that produce dorsiflexion and participate in inversion and eversion of the foot, as well as vascular and nervous elements, including the anterior tibial artery and

veins Veins () are blood vessels in the circulatory system of humans and most other animals that carry blood towards the heart. Most veins carry deoxygenated blood from the tissues back to the heart; exceptions are those of the pulmonary and fetal c ...

and the

deep fibular nerve The deep fibular nerve (also known as deep peroneal nerve) begins at the bifurcation of the common fibular nerve between the fibula and upper part of the fibularis longus, passes infero-medially, deep to the extensor digitorum longus, to the a ...

Muscles

The muscles of the compartment are: * tibialis anterior * extensor hallucis longus * extensor digitorum longus * fibularis (peroneus) tertius

Function

The compartment contains muscles that are dorsiflexors and participate in inversion and eversion of the foot.

Innervation and blood supply

The anterior compartment of the leg is supplied by the

(deep peroneal nerve), a branch of the common fibular nerve. The nerve contains

axons An axon (from Greek ἄξων ''áxōn'', axis) or nerve fiber (or nerve fibre: see spelling differences) is a long, slender projection of a nerve cell, or neuron, in vertebrates, that typically conducts electrical impulses known as action pot ...

from the L4, L5, and S1 spinal nerves. Blood for the compartment is supplied by the anterior tibial artery, which runs between the tibialis anterior and extensor digitorum longus muscles. When the artery crosses the extensor retinaculum, it changes its name to

dorsalis pedis artery In human anatomy, the dorsalis pedis artery (dorsal artery of foot) is a blood vessel of the lower limb. It arises from the anterior tibial artery, and ends at the first intermetatarsal space (as the first dorsal metatarsal artery and the deep pla ...

Additional images

File:Anterior compartment of leg - animation.gif, Anterior compartment. Animation.

Muscles

Function

Innervation and blood supply

Additional images

Notes and references

See also