Anterior tibial artery: course from the popliteal artery to the dorsalis pedis

Where does the anterior tibial artery run?

The muscles at the front of the shin tighten when you lift your toes. Their artery comes from behind the knee, yet runs down the front of the leg. How does it get from back to front? The answer is the course of the anterior tibial artery.

It arises from the popliteal artery, which divides just below the knee into the anterior tibial artery, heading forward, and the posterior tibial artery, staying behind. In the view above the anterior tibial artery is yellow and the popliteal and posterior tibial arteries are red.

From back to front below the knee

At first it lies at the back of the leg. It then passes forward through the gap above the upper edge of the interosseous membrane, the thin sheet joining the tibia and fibula, into the anterior compartment.

Down the front of the leg to the dorsalis pedis

It descends on the front of the interosseous membrane with the deep fibular nerve, between tibialis anterior and the extensor digitorum longus and extensor hallucis longus, which it supplies. Lower down it becomes more superficial and crosses the front of the ankle about midway between the malleoli; beyond the ankle joint it is called the dorsalis pedis artery, running toward the gap between the first and second toes. Near the ankle it gives malleolar branches such as the anterior lateral malleolar artery. Its size and continuation vary, and the dorsalis pedis sometimes arises from another artery; reported frequencies differ between studies and textbooks.

Name and terms

Tibial means of the tibia. Related terms: posterior tibial artery, dorsalis pedis artery, deep fibular (peroneal) nerve. The Latin is arteria tibialis anterior.

See it in the app

How the artery turns from the back of the leg to the front cannot be seen in a single front or back view. In the 3D anatomy app teamLabBody you can keep only the bones and vessels, select the anterior tibial artery and rotate to see it pass between the tibia and fibula, then add the popliteal and posterior tibial arteries to see where they divide. Cross sections are available with the PREMIUM plan.

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