Sole of the foot
| Sole | |
|---|---|
Soles of human feet.
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| Details | |
| Artery | medial plantar, lateral plantar |
| Nerve | medial plantar, lateral plantar |
| Identifiers | |
| Latin | planta |
| Dorlands /Elsevier |
p_22/12644411 |
| TA | A01.1.00.044 |
| FMA | 25000 |
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Anatomical terminology
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The sole is the underside of the foot.
In humans the sole of the foot is anatomically referred to as the plantar aspect. The equivalent surface in ungulates is the hoof.
The skin on the sole of the foot lacks the hair and pigmentation found elsewhere on the body, and it has a high concentration of sweat pores. The sole contains the thickest layers of skin on the body due to the weight that is continually placed on it. It is crossed by a set of creases that form during the early stages of embryonic development. Like those of the palm, the sweat pores of the sole lack sebaceous glands.
The sole is a sensory organ by which we can perceive the ground while standing and walking. The subcutaneous tissue in the sole has adapted to deal with the high local compressive forces on the heel and the ball (between the toes and the arch) by developing a system of "pressure chambers." Each chamber is composed of internal fibrofatty tissue covered by external collagen connective tissue. The septa (internal walls) of these chambers are permeated by numerous blood vessels, making the sole one of the most vascularized, or blood-enriched, regions in the human body.
The sole and the longitudinal arch of the foot are supported by a thick connective tissue, the plantar fascia. The central component of this tissue extends to the supporting bones and gives two divisions–the medial component and lateral component; thus they define the boundaries of the three muscle compartments of the sole (see below).
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