Nerve · Ankle

Medial calcaneal branches

Rami calcanei mediales

The nerves of the heel pad. They leave the tibial nerve at or just above the tarsal tunnel behind the inner ankle bone and, instead of continuing under the flexor retinaculum with the rest of the tibial nerve's traffic, pierce that ligament directly to reach the skin. They then spread across the sole of the heel and its inner side. Because they leave the tunnel through its roof rather than through its far end, they take a different route from the plantar nerves that share its entrance — a small anatomical difference with large consequences for which part of the foot goes numb.