10.2 Muscles, Bones, and Nerves of the Toes, Feet, and Legs

Bones of the Toes, Foot, and Lower Leg

This section covers Pearson VUE February 2026 outline item III.A.2. Names and counts below are standard nail-technology instruction. Under 49 Pa. Code § 7.1, nail technology includes massaging the feet, or massaging the lower legs up to the knee. The stroke may reach the knee. It does not climb the thigh, and this section does not teach medical massage.

Ankle, foot, and toe bones

One foot has 26 bones in three groups: 7 tarsals, 5 metatarsals, and 14 phalanges. The tarsals are the talus, the calcaneus, the navicular, the cuboid, and three cuneiforms, called medial, intermediate, and lateral. The calcaneus is the heel. A pad cushions its underside, but a circular rub on the back and sides of the heel stays light.

The talus sits above the calcaneus and meets the lower leg at the ankle. Metatarsals are numbered from the great toe toward the little toe, and their heads form the ball of the foot. Glide the shafts. Keep circles at the ball of the foot gentle, because those heads are bony and nerves to the toes pass nearby.

The great toe has 2 phalanges, and each other toe has 3. The toenail lies over the distal phalanx. Use the soft pads, and do not pinch the sides of the toes.

The two lower-leg bones

The tibia is the larger medial lower-leg bone. Medial means the inner side, toward the other leg. Its front is the shin, with almost no muscle over that sharp border. Do not scrape the shin. Stay on the soft tissue beside it.

The fibula is the thinner lateral bone, on the outer side. Its head sits just below the outer knee. The ankle bumps are the lower ends of the tibia and the fibula, not extra tarsals. Both bones end at the knee, and the stroke does not continue onto the thigh.

Muscles Below the Knee

The gastrocnemius is the superficial calf bulge seen when the foot points down. The soleus lies deeper and is fuller toward the lower calf. Together they point the foot downward. Light kneading may work both below the knee. Pressure on the calf stays light, and the stroke does not follow either muscle onto the thigh.

The tibialis anterior is the soft strip just outer to the shin. It tightens when the toes lift. Glide along that strip, and stay off the sharp front of the tibia.

The peroneus longus runs along the outer lower leg beside the fibula and turns the sole slightly outward. Lighten the stroke as it nears the knee, where the fibular head sits, and stop at the knee.

The intrinsic muscles are the small muscles of the sole and the spaces between the metatarsals. They help support the arch and move the toes. A small circular rub on the arch may work them without boring into the heel or pressing between the toes.

More muscle names the textbooks use

Several more lower-leg and foot muscles appear in standard instruction. The peroneus brevis lies under the peroneus longus on the outer lower leg and helps bend the foot down and out. The extensor digitorum longus runs down the front of the lower leg, bends the foot up, and extends the toes. The extensor hallucis longus extends the big toe and helps flex the foot upward. On the foot itself, the extensor digitorum brevis on the top of the foot moves the toes, the flexor digitorum brevis in the sole bends the toes and helps balance, the abductor hallucis moves the big toe away from the other toes, and the abductor digiti minimi separates the little toe.

Two bones are named as boundaries. The femur is the thigh bone, the longest and heaviest bone of the body, and the patella is the kneecap. Both sit at or above the knee, so neither is part of a pedicure massage.

Nerves That Change the Pressure

The tibial nerve travels toward the sole and passes behind the inner ankle. A deep press in that hollow can send tingling into the sole, so keep the stroke light. That sensation is a reason to ease off, not a reason to diagnose a condition or suggest a medical treatment.

The common peroneal nerve, also called the fibular nerve, wraps near the fibular head and is easy to compress. A hard press can send a sensation down the outer leg or into the top of the foot. Do not press hard at the outer knee. A pedicure stroke stops at the knee.

The common peroneal nerve divides into two branches. The deep peroneal nerve, also called the anterior tibial nerve, runs down the front of the leg and supplies the muscles there and the skin between the first and second toes. The superficial peroneal nerve, also called the musculocutaneous nerve, supplies the outer lower leg and continues as the dorsal nerves on the top of the foot.

Two more nerves supply skin you touch during a pedicure. The saphenous nerve supplies the skin on the inner side of the lower leg and foot. The sural nerve supplies the skin on the outer side and back of the foot and lower leg.

The plantar digital nerves run in the toes and into the sole. Use the pads. Do not squeeze the sides of a toe or tap hard between the toes.

How the Four Movements Change on the Foot

Effleurage is still a gliding stroke. On the foot it travels from the toes up the calf and stops at the knee, with the palm on soft muscle. The fingertips do not scrape the shin.

Petrissage is still kneading, now a light squeeze of the gastrocnemius and soleus. It does not knead the shin or climb onto the thigh.

Friction is still a small circular rub, now on the arch and the intrinsic muscles. Circles lighten over the calcaneus, the ankle, and the metatarsal heads.

Tapotement is still tapping. Light taps may fall on the fleshy sole or the calf, not on the shin or the fibular head. Calf pressure stays light for every movement.

Where the stroke stops

Effleurage has reached the top of the calf, and the client asks the technician to go higher because the thigh feels tight. The next stroke would cross the knee, so the technician stops. Under 49 Pa. Code § 7.1, massage of the lower leg goes up to the knee, and the thigh is outside the service. The return glide stays off the shin and uses no hard pressure at the outer knee, where the common peroneal nerve wraps the fibular head.