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Dog · Bone · Pelvic limb

Tibia

The weight-bearing bone of the leg: two condyles at the stifle, a tibial tuberosity for the patellar ligament, a sharp cranial crest, and the cochlea meeting the talus.

System
Bone
Region
Pelvic limb
Sides
Paired: left and right
Named parts
9

Where it runs from and to

A muscle is told apart from its neighbours by what it takes hold of at each end, which is also what decides what it does when it shortens.

Action
The weight-bearing bone of the leg: two condyles at the stifle, a tibial tuberosity for the patellar ligament, a sharp cranial crest, and the cochlea meeting the talus.

Written for Vetomica in its own words from the standard reference anatomy of the dog; the books it was checked against are listed below.

Named parts

What to look for on the bone, and what each part is called in the Nomina Anatomica Veterinaria.

Proximal end

Proximal articular surfaceFacies articularis proximalis
The pair of flattened condylar faces that the femur rests on.Miller 2020, p. 353
Intercondylar eminenceTuberculum intercondylaris
The raised middle of that surface, between the two faces.Miller 2020, p. 353
Tibial tuberosityTuberositas tibiae
The prominence at the front that the patellar ligament pulls on.Miller 2020, p. 354
Extensor grooveSulcus extensorius
The channel on the lateral side of that tuberosity for the long digital extensor tendon.Miller 2020, p. 354
Fibular articular surfaceFacies articularis fibularis
The small facet behind the lateral condyle that carries the head of the fibula.Miller 2020, p. 354
Popliteal notchIncisura poplitea
The deep notch between the condyles at the back.Miller 2020, p. 354

Body

Body of the tibiaCorpus tibiae
The shaft, three-sided above and rounder below; its medial surface lies under the skin.Miller 2020, p. 354

Distal end

Cochlea of the tibiaCochlea tibiae
The grooved distal surface that the trochlea of the talus rocks in.Miller 2020, p. 355
Medial malleolusMalleolus medialis
The projection on the inside of the hock, easily felt.Miller 2020, p. 355

What it meets

Medial crus bone; stifle with femur, tarsocrural joint with talus.

Bones it articulates with

Joints it forms

  • Femorotibial joint
  • Proximal tibiofibular joint
  • Tarsocrural joint

Muscles and ligaments that take hold of it

  • Medial meniscus
  • Lateral meniscus
  • Cruciate ligaments of stifle
  • Patellar ligament
  • Interosseous membrane of crus

Measured on the specimen

What the tibia is in contact with in the model itself, with the share of the other structure’s surface it covers. A contact is not always a joint: bones that simply lie against one another are in this list too.

Measured on the left side.

Terminology

English
Tibia
Latin (NAV)
Tibia
Status
A valid term in the Nomina Anatomica Veterinaria

References

Where to read this structure in full, and where the named parts above were read.

  • Miller 2020Miller 2020, ch. 4 The Skeleton, Tibia, PDF p. 348
  • König & Liebich 2020skeleton of the pelvic limb, p. 243-263
  • Dyce 2017ch. 17 Hindlimb of the Dog and Cat, p. 481
  • NAV 2017Osteologia