Fibula

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

The fibula or calf bone is a bone located on the lateral side of the tibia, with which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones, and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity is small, placed toward the back of the head of the tibia, below the level of the knee-joint, and excluded from the formation of this joint. Its lower extremity inclines a little forward, so as to be on a plane anterior to that of the upper end; it projects below the tibia, and forms the lateral part of the ankle-joint.

Components

The bone has the following components:

Head of fibula
Body of fibula
Lateral malleolus
Interosseous membrane connecting the fibula to the tibia, forming a syndesmoses joint

Blood Supply

The blood supply is important for planning free tissue transfer because the fibula is commonly used to reconstruct the mandible. The shaft is supplied in its middle third by a large nutrient vessel from the peroneal artery. It is also perfused from its periosteum which receives many small branches from the peroneal artery. The proximal head and the epiphysis are supplied by a branch of the anterior tibial artery. In harvesting the bone the middle third is always taken and the ends preserved (4cm proximally and 6cm distally)

Ossification

The fibula is ossified from three centers, one for the shaft, and one for either end. Ossification begins in the body about the eighth week of fetal life, and extends toward the extremities. At birth the ends are cartilaginous.

Ossification commences in the lower end in the second year, and in the upper about the fourth year. The lower epiphysis, the first to ossify, unites with the body about the twentieth year; the upper epiphysis joins about the twenty-fifth year.

Additional images

Knee diagram
Fibula
Bones of the right leg. Anterior surface.
Bones of the right leg. Posterior surface.
Right knee-joint. Posterior view.
Right knee-joint, from the front, showing interior ligaments.
Left knee-joint from behind, showing interior ligaments.
Capsule of right knee-joint (distended). Lateral aspect.
Capsule of right knee-joint (distended). Posterior aspect.
Capsule of left talocrura articulation (distended). Lateral aspect.
Coronal section through right talocrural and talocalcaneal joints.
Oblique section of left intertarsal and tarsometatarsal articulations, showing the synovial cavities.
Cross-section through middle of leg.