Joints+of+the+Lower+Limb

=**Joints of the Lower Limb**=


 * 1. Validate the function of intrinsic foot muscles in maintaining foot integrity.**

The four muscular layers in the sole of the foot help resist flattening, maintain the arches of the foot and enable one to stand on uneven ground. The muscles are of little importance individually because fine control of individual toes is not important to most people.

In addition to the bones and ligaments of the foot, the arches of the foot are also maintained by tendons such as that of flexor hallucis longus and flexor digitorum longus which acts as tie beams and fibularis longus which acts as a suspension bridges.


 * 2. Illustrate the dermatome pattern for the lower limb.**

The bulk of the dermatomes of the anterior lower limb is supplied by L1-L5 with L1 in the pubic region, L4 going diagonally across the patella, and L2, L3, and L5 all in between. Most of the dorsum of the foot is supplied by the superficial fibular nerve except the skin between toe I and II which is supplied by the deep fibular nerve.

Most of the posterior lower limb is supplied by S1 and S2. L1-L5 supplies some of the lower back and upper gluteal region but warps around from the anterior side to supply the medial and lateral edges. On the plantar foot, the lateral plantar nerve (S1-S2) supplies toe V and half of toe IV; the medial plantar nerve (L4-L5) supplies toes I-III and half of toe IV.