tibia

tibia: see leg.

Single- or double-reed pipe usually played in pairs, particularly in ancient Greece. During the Classical period the pipes were of equal length, each with three or four finger holes. The principal wind instrument of most ancient Middle Eastern peoples, it existed in Europe up to the early Middle Ages, often as a single pipe with more finger holes. Its quavering sound, described by Plato, was classically associated with the rites of Dionysus.

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The tibia, shinbone, or shankbone is the larger and stronger of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates and connects the knee with the ankle bones.

In humans

The tibia is found medial and anterior to the fibula. It is the second-longest bone in the human body, the largest being the femur. The tibia articulates with the femur and patella superiorly, the fibula laterally and with the talus inferiorly.

Gender differences

In the male, its direction is vertical, and parallel with the bone of the opposite side. In the female, it has a slightly oblique direction downward and lateralward, to compensate for the greater obliqueness of the femur.

Structure

It is prismoid in form, expanded above, where it enters into the knee-joint, contracted in the lower third, and again enlarged but to a lesser extent below.

The superior tibiofibular articulation is an arthrodial joint between the lateral condyle of the tibia and the head of the fibula. The inferior tibiofibular articulation (tibiofibular syndesmosis) is formed by the rough, convex surface of the medial side of the lower end of the fibula, and a rough concave surface on the later side of the tibia. The tibia is connected to the fibula by an interosseous membrane, forming a type of joint called a syndesmoses.

Blood supply

The tibia derives its arterial blood supply from two sources:

1. the nutrient artery (main source)
2. periosteal vessels derived from the anterior tibial artery

Additional images

See also

• Bone terminology
• Terms for anatomical location
• Ossification of tibia
• Upper extremity of tibia
• Body of tibia
• Lower extremity of tibia
• Shin Splints

External links

• Tibial fractures

References