Anatomical Terms for the Leg and Foot - Online Tutor, Practice Problems & Exam Prep

Understanding anatomical terms for the leg and foot is essential in anatomy. Key terms include coxal (hip), femoral (thigh), patellar (kneecap), popliteal (back of the knee), curl (lower leg), surl (back of the calf), pedal (foot), and plantar (bottom of the foot). For the foot, terms like tarsal (ankle), metatarsal (bones of the foot), calcaneal (heel), hallux (big toe), and digital (toes) are crucial. These terms help in identifying body regions and their functions, enhancing comprehension of human anatomy.

The Leg and Foot

Alright. On to anatomical terms of the leg and thigh. Now a quick reminder, every anatomy class has a slightly different list of anatomical terms that you need to know, so make sure you refer to your notes to know exactly which words you need to study. With that, I want to orient you to the picture here. This picture shows 2 legs, but specifically the one on the left is the front of the leg and the thigh, and the one on the right is the back of the leg and thigh.

So now, coxal. Coxal is your hip. If you touch your hips, you feel there's a bone there. That bone's part of your pelvis. Specifically, it's the coxal bone.

Your coxal bone is your hip bone. Coxal region is your hip region. Next, we have femoral. Femoral is your thigh, and you may be familiar the large bone in your thigh is your femur. Your femur is in the femoral region.

Femoral thigh. Moving down the leg, we have the patella or the patellar region. That's going to be your kneecap. Now the kneecap the bone is the patella, and it comes from the Latin meaning small or shallow dish. And if you look at the bone, you can sort of imagine it looking like a little saucer for a teacup or something like that.

Now interestingly, the word paella, which is a terrifically delicious Spanish or Latin food, it also comes from that word patella. And it's called that because it's cooked in a shallow dish. So both patella, your kneecap, and paella, the food, come from the Latin term patella. Patellar is your kneecap. Now sticking with the knee, we're gonna look over here to popliteal.

Popliteal is the back of the knee, and I remember that one because that's it's back of the knee. It's that soft spot in the back of the knee. When I stand up, sometimes my knees pop. So when my knees pop, I say, hey, that's my popliteal region. Okay.

Continue to move down. You'll note that the next two both have these red letters starting them, crural and sural. These sound similar and they refer to similar regions. So I think it's really good to learn them together and always say them together so you can keep them straight. Crural means the lower leg, or really just between the knee and the ankle, while sural refers to the back of the calf.

So the way I keep that straight in my head, crural, c becomes before s, so crural region talks about the entire region, whilst s comes after c, so sural just talks about the back of the region. It's just the back of the calf. Crural and sural. Next, we have pedal. Pedal is your foot.

You can remember that because you pedal a bicycle with your pedal region. Both those words come from the same Latin root. Pedal, your foot. And lastly on this list, we have plantar. Plantar is the bottom of the foot, and I remember that because I plant my feet on my plantar region.

Okay. We just learned 8 more anatomical terms, and I'll see you in the next video.

Anatomical Terms for the Leg and Foot Example 1

This example wants to know, based on the anatomical terms, where do you think the following injuries affect? And first up, we have a) plantar fasciitis. Take a second for that one. Alright, plantar. Remember, I plant my feet on my planter region, so the plantar region is the bottom of the foot.

Now, you don't need to know the rest of this for this unit, but fascia is connective tissue that surrounds muscles, binds muscles, and connects muscles to other things. So, plantar fasciitis is a painful condition of the fascia on the bottom of the foot, making it really painful to walk or sometimes even stand. Next up, we have a fascia cruris tear. See if you know that one. Alright.

Keyword, crural. Remember, you have your crural and sural region. I said remember those together. Crural and sural both relate to the lower leg, the place between the ankle and the knee. C comes before S, so it's that whole region.

Sural, S comes after C, so it's just the back. So the cruris, we're talking about that whole lower leg. The fascia cruris is the connective tissue that separates the major muscles of your lower legs, for example, your calf from the muscles of the front of your leg. Alright. Next up, we have patellar tendinitis.

See if you know that one. Alright. Patellar, your patella is your kneecap. So patellar is the front of the knee, and tendinitis is just a painful condition of the tendons. You have a patellar tendon that connects your quad muscle to your kneecap to the front of the lower leg.

And then finally, we have a popliteal cyst. See if you know that one. Alright, remember, I like to say my knee pops. Popliteal is the back of the knee. So, that's a cyst in the back of the knee.

I guess you can pop a cyst too. That's kind of gross. Alright. We have more practice problems below, and I'll see you in the next video.

The posterior part of the knee is called:

• A. Hallux
• B. Patellar
• C. Popliteal
• D. Sural

Which anatomical term refers to a region that is proximal to the crural region?

• A. Digital
• B. Tarsal
• C. Patellar
• D. Sural

Based on the anatomical terms, the dorsalis pedis artery is likely associated with which structure?

• A. Ankle
• B. Back of the knee
• C. Foot
• D. Calf

The Foot

We have reached our last set of anatomical terms for body regions, focusing on terms for the foot. Same disclaimer as always. Check your notes. Every professor, every class has a slightly different list they want you to know, so make sure you know what you need to study for your test. Alright.

First up, we have tarsal. Tarsal is the ankle or the tarsal region is the ankle region and the tarsals are the ankle bones. Now, I say here learn with carpal. If you remember, carpal is the wrist. The wrist and the ankle are pretty similar body regions, and carpal and tarsal sound similar. So, carpal is the wrist, tarsal is the ankle. Now if we go over here, we see metatarsal. Metatarsal is the bones of the foot. And if you remember the wrist, we had carpal, metacarpal. The same pattern here, tarsal, metatarsal. You remember meta means after, and in this case, tarsal means ankle. So after the ankle, the metatarsal is the bones of the foot.

Moving down, we have calcaneal. Calcanea is the heel, and the calcaneus is the heel bone. Now that comes from calcanea, which is Latin for chalk. And, I don't know about you, but if I look at my heel, the skin looks pretty white and chalky. So that helps me remember it. Calcaneal, heel. Moving down, we have hallux. Hallux is just Latin for your big toe, and the way I remember it is I say how has a luxuriously large big toe. How, lux. Hallux, big toe.

Finally, we have digital, and digital is just your toes. Now, you'll note we have the same word digital for your fingers and your toes. You count digits on your fingers, and if you run out of fingers to count on, well, you can keep counting on your toes. So the same word for fingers and toes, digital. With that, we have learned our anatomical terms for body regions. Good job, everybody.

Anatomical Terms for the Leg and Foot Example 2

This problem asks us to use our knowledge of anatomical terms to see if we can figure out where these four medical conditions affect the body. So let's take a look. First off, we have hallux rigidus. Alright. See if you can figure that one out.

Okay, hallux. We said "hal" has a luxuriously large big toe, so hallux rigidus affects the big toe. Specifically, it's an arthritic condition of the big toe. Next, we have a calcaneal spur. Give yourself a second to figure that one out.

Okay. The keyword there is calcaneal. Calcaneal is the heel. Calcaneus is the heel bone. So a calcaneal spur is just a bone spur on the heel.

Next, we have metatarsalgia. See what you think about that. Alright. The key part of this word is metatarsal, and we said "meta" means after, and "tarsal" means the ankle. So it's the bones after the ankle, which are the bones of the foot.

Specifically, metatarsalgia is a painful condition of the ball of the foot. That's where those bones of the foot along the top of your foot, that's where they end. So metatarsalgia affects those bones of your foot. Then finally, we have tarsal tunnel syndrome. See what you think about that one.

All right. Tarsal tunnel syndrome. You've probably heard of carpal tunnel syndrome. Carpal tunnel syndrome affects your wrist. And I suggest that you remember carpal and tarsal together because they kind of sound similar.

Tarsal's your ankle. So you have a carpal tunnel. You also have a tarsal tunnel, and so tarsal tunnel syndrome affects your ankle. Alright. With that, we have some practice problems below.

Give them a try.

You injure yourself and the doctor says you have a contusion in the hallux region. Based on your anatomical terms, what could be another name for this injury?

• A. Stubbed big toe
• B. Sprained ankle
• C. Torn tendon in the knee 
• D. Broken leg

Which structure is distal to the metatarsals?

• A. Sural
• B. Tarsal
• C. Digital
• D. Femoral

Here’s what students ask on this topic:

What is the anatomical term for the hip region?

The anatomical term for the hip region is 'coxal.' The coxal region refers to the area around the hip bones, which are part of the pelvis. The coxal bones are crucial for supporting the weight of the upper body when standing and provide attachment points for various muscles involved in movement. Understanding this term is essential for identifying and discussing issues related to the hip area in anatomy.

What is the difference between the crural and sural regions?

The crural region refers to the lower leg, specifically the area between the knee and the ankle. In contrast, the sural region pertains to the back of the calf. To remember the difference, note that 'crural' starts with 'c,' which comes before 's' in the alphabet, indicating it covers the entire lower leg, while 'sural' focuses only on the back part of the calf.

What bones are included in the tarsal region?

The tarsal region includes the ankle bones, known as the tarsals. These bones are crucial for foot movement and stability. The tarsal bones include the talus, calcaneus, navicular, cuboid, and the three cuneiform bones. These bones work together to support the body's weight and allow for complex movements of the foot.

How can you remember the term 'patella' and its meaning?

The term 'patella' refers to the kneecap. It comes from the Latin word for a small or shallow dish, which can help you remember its shape. Additionally, the word 'paella,' a dish cooked in a shallow pan, shares the same Latin root. This connection can help you recall that 'patella' means kneecap.

What is the anatomical term for the big toe?

The anatomical term for the big toe is 'hallux.' This term is derived from Latin and is used to specifically refer to the largest toe on the foot. A mnemonic to remember this is to think of 'how has a luxuriously large big toe,' combining 'how' and 'lux' to form 'hallux.'