Foot and Ankle Anatomy: Tarsal Bone Mnemonic
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Foot and Ankle Anatomy
There are 7 tarsal bones in the foot: calcaneus, talus, navicular, cuboid, medial cuneiform, intermediate cuneiform, and lateral cuneiform.
By definition, the tarsal bones function to articulate with the tibia and fibula proximally and the metatarsals distally to form the ankle joint, hindfoot, and midfoot.
In this EZmed post, you will be provided with a simple mnemonic to remember the tarsal bone names similar to the EZmed blog with the carpal bone mnemonic.
You will also learn the anatomy, location, and shape of each tarsal bone using labeled diagrams of the foot.
Understanding the tarsal bone anatomy can help you read radiology images such as foot and ankle x-rays, as well as perform thorough physical examinations of the foot.
Let’s get started!
Tarsal Bone Mnemonic
As mentioned above, there are a total of 7 tarsal bones.
The names of the tarsal bones can be remembered using the following mnemonic:
“Talus Covers Navicular, Navicular Covers Cuneiforms”
Talus = Talus
Covers = Calcaneus
Navicular = Navicular
Covers = Cuboid
Cuneiforms = Cuneiforms
This mnemonic will not only help you remember the tarsal bone names, but it will also help you remember their position and location relative to one another.
Let’s see how it works!
Image: Use this mnemonic to remember the names and positions of each tarsal bone.
Tarsal Bones
We’re now going to walk through the mnemonic and discuss the position and location of each tarsal bone.
Talus
The talus is located in the proximal tarsal row and is the most superior tarsal bone.
The talus articulates with the tibia and fibula to form the ankle joint.
You can remember which bone is the talus because it articulates with the tibia, and both the talus and tibia start with the letter “T”.
Image: The talus is located in the proximal tarsal row and articulates with the tibia and fibula.
Navicular
We can now use the first part of the mnemonic, “Talus Covers Navicular”, to remember the proximal position of the talus relative to the navicular bone.
The talus is in the proximal tarsal row and “covers” the navicular bone which is located in the intermediate tarsal row.
In other words, the bone below the talus is the navicular.
The navicular articulates with all the tarsal bones except for the calcaneus.
Image: The navicular is located in the intermediate tarsal row of the foot below or distal to the talus, and it articulates with all the tarsal bones except the calcaneus.
Cuneiforms
As we continue through the mnemonic, “Navicular Covers Cuneiforms”, this will help us remember the proximal position of the navicular relative to the cuneiform bones.
The navicular is in the intermediate tarsal row and “covers” the cuneiform bones which are located in the distal tarsal row.
In other words, the bones below the navicular are the cuneiform bones.
There are 3 cuneiform bones: medial, intermediate, and lateral.
They articulate with the navicular proximally and metatarsals 1-3 distally.
Image: The cuneiform bones are located in the distal tarsal row of the foot below or distal to the navicular, and they articulate with the navicular and metatarsals 1-3.
Calcaneus and Cuboid
The 2 words in the mnemonic we have not yet used are “covers” and “covers”.
This will help you remember the final 2 tarsal bones as they both start with the letter “C”.
The first bone is the calcaneus which forms the heel of the foot and is located in the proximal tarsal row with the talus.
The second bone is the cuboid which is located in the distal tarsal row with the cuneiforms.
There are a couple ways to remember which bone is the calcaneus and which one is the cuboid.
First, the calcaneus is larger in size compared to the cuboid, and the word calcaneus is longer than cuboid.
Second, the cuboid bone is shaped more like a “cube” compared to the calcaneus.
Image: Calcaneus is in the proximal tarsal row with the talus, and the cuboid is distal to the calcaneus.
Hindfoot and Midfoot
The foot can be divided into the hindfoot, midfoot, and forefoot.
The 7 tarsal bones make up the hindfoot and midfoot.
Specifically, the talus and calcaneus make up the hindfoot, which is easy to remember because talus and calcaneus rhyme.
The navicular bone, cuboid, and 3 cuneiform bones make up the midfoot.
The forefoot is made up of the metatarsals and phalanges.
Image: The hindfoot is made up of the calcaneus and talus. The midfoot is made up of the cuboid, navicular, and cuneiforms.
Summary
Hopefully this mnemonic and overview gave you an easy way to remember the tarsal bone names and anatomy.
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