Human leg

This article is about the legs of humans. For the legs of other animals, see Leg.

Human leg
PP
Lateral aspect of right leg
Details
Identifiers
Latinmembrum inferius
FMA7184
Anatomical terminology

The leg is the entire lower limb of the human body, including the foot, thigh or sometimes even the hip or buttock region. The major bones of the leg are the femur (thigh bone), tibia (shin bone), and adjacent fibula.

The thigh is between the hip and knee, while the calf (rear) and shin (front), or shank, are between the knee and ankle.[1]

Legs are used for standing, many forms of human movement, recreation such as dancing, and constitute a significant portion of a person's mass. Evolution has led to the human leg's development into a mechanism specifically adapted for efficient bipedal gait.[2] While the capacity to walk upright is not unique to humans, other primates can only achieve this for short periods and at a great expenditure of energy.[3] In humans, female legs generally have greater hip anteversion and tibiofemoral angles, while male legs have longer femur and tibial lengths.[4]

In humans, each lower limb is divided into the hip, thigh, knee, leg, ankle and foot.[5] In anatomy, just as arm refers to the upper arm, leg refers to the lower leg.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Muscolino2016 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Striedter2016 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hefti2015 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Shultz SJ, Nguyen AD, Schmitz RJ (2008). "Differences in lower extremity anatomical and postural characteristics in males and females between maturation groups". J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 38 (3): 137–49. doi:10.2519/jospt.2008.2645. PMID 18383647.
  5. ^ "Lower limb anatomy".