Muscle · Foot

Opponens digiti minimi (foot)

Musculus opponens digiti minimi pedis

An inconstant slip of muscle on the outer edge of the sole — present in some feet, absent in others, and usually described as a deep, partly separate portion of flexor digiti minimi brevis rather than a muscle in its own right. Where it exists it runs from the long plantar ligament and the sheath of the fibularis longus tendon to the shaft of the fifth metatarsal, and it pulls on that bone rather than on the toe. It shares its name with a hand muscle that genuinely opposes the little finger toward the thumb; the foot performs no opposition and this is not that muscle. Its real interest is that it is there at all: the sole is built on the same plan as the palm, and the movements the foot gave up are still represented, reduced to fragments like this one.