Power of Splay: New and improved

This time with some anatomy pix.

Think about triangles. Hey Pythaogoras did! They are powerful distributors of force. Here we will talk about 3 of them.

There are 4 layers of muscles in the foot. The 1st triangle occurs in the 1st layer. Think of the abductor hallucis and the abductor digiti minimi. Proximally they both attach to the calcaneus and distally to the 1st and 5th proximal phalanges. Now think about the transverse metatarsal ligament that runs between the disal metatarsal heads. Wow, a triangle! this one is superficial.

Now think about the adductor hallicus. It has a transverse and oblique head. think about that transverse metatarsal ligament again. Wow, another triangle!

What about the flexor hallicus brevis and flexor digiti minimi? The former originates from the cuboid, lateral cunieform andd portion of the tib posterior tendon; the latter from the proximal 5th metatarsal. They both go forward and insert into the respective proximal phalynx (with the sesamoids intervening in the case of the FHB). and what connects these? The deep transverse metatarsal ligament of course! And this triangle surrounds the adductor triangle, with both occurring the 3rd layer of the 4 layers of foot muscles.

Triangles… and you thought geometry was boring!

Remaining triangular when we need to (because of our pointy heads)…Ivo and Shawn