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anatomy · section one

the skeleton

206 bones · 237 joints

Point at the drawing, or search for a bone by any name you know it by. Choosing one marks it in ink and turns everything it joins onto green, because a bone on its own tells you almost nothing — what it does is decided by what it is attached to.

green marks what it joins onto

“talus. two of them.”

appendicular skeleton · ankle and foot

Talus

Talus · two of them · also called ankle bone, anklebone, astragalus

It hands the whole weight of the body down from the shin into the heel behind and the arch in front, and its curved top is the rolling surface the ankle hinges on. Point your foot down hard and a rounded ridge appears at the front of the ankle crease, which is the neck of this bone coming out from under the shin.

no muscle or tendon attaches to it, and around three fifths of its surface is bare joint cartilage

on the drawing: the ankle block lights as a whole — all seven tarsals are packed into it

what it joins onto

    • ankle jointsynovial hingehinge - points the foot down and pulls it up
    • ankle joint, outer sidesynovial hingehinge - the outer wall the ankle turns against
    • subtalar jointsynovial planetilts the sole inwards and outwards on rough ground
    • talonavicular jointsynovial ball-and-socketswivels the front of the foot as the arch works

62 entries, 206 bones

braincase

face

middle ear

throat

spine

chest

shoulder

arm

wrist and hand

pelvis

leg

ankle and foot