When we reach adulthood our body is made up of 206 bones, each one of them fulfills an important function to allow us to carry out such important tasks as walking, moving, jumping and even listening, since areas such as the middle ear also have small little bundles that transmit the vibration of sounds, guaranteeing our hearing.
And when it comes to limbs such as arms or legs, the presence of skeleton is much more evident, although we do not always know the name of each of its parts. If you wonder what are the leg bones Keep reading, because in this OneHowTo article we clarify it in detail.
What is meant by leg?
Before delving into what the leg bones are, it is important to clarify which area we are referring to exactly, because even if you don’t know it, there is a difference between the anatomical concept of the leg and the popular idea of this area.
In anatomy, the leg is the third segment of the lower limbs and goes from knee to ankle, that is to say, it only includes the area that we colloquially call the calf. So for anatomy experts or science professionals, the thigh area is not included in the leg and therefore the bones that make it up either.
In a popular way, we call our entire lower limb leg from thigh to ankle. Taking into account these two concepts, it can be explained why in some places it is explained that the leg is made up of 2 bones and in others it is said that there are 3.
The bones that make up the leg and thigh
At the anatomical level and according to the previous explanation, the leg bones are two:
- The tibia: This is a long bone whose most distant end is part of the knee joint. It is located next to the fibula and is connected to it through the interosseous membrane of the leg. This important bone helps us support our bone while participating in the proper movement of the body.
- Fibula: It is also known as fibula and is located on the outside of our leg. Like the tibia, it helps us to support part of the body’s weight effectively.
For its part, the thigh bone is the femur, which is also the longest and most robust bone in our body. It allows to join the thigh with the hip and, thanks to the kneecap, It is also part of the knee joint together with the tibia, so that these three bones are a fundamental part of the movement of our lower extremities and their correct health and well-being. Remember that from the point of view of anatomy the thigh is not included in the leg, so for many specialists the femur is not between the bones of the leg and the distinction must be made separately.
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