Anat Biol Anthropol ABA Anatomy & Biological Anthropology 2671-5651 2671-566X Korean Association of Physical Anthropologists 10.11637/aba.2019.32.4.151 Original Article Anatomical Classification of Plantaris Tendon according to Shape and Location of Insertion in Korean https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7288-8622 Park Kwang Rak 1 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8680-4680 Cho Jaeho 2 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8074-0986 Choi Yu Jin 1 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2926-4558 Kim Digud 1 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3162-2297 Kwon Hyung Wook 1 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3334-0637 Jang Hye Jin 3 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5981-5421 Kang Hansol 1 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2589-2223 Park Jeonghyun 1 Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kangwon National University, Korea. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Chuncheon Sacred Heart Hospital, Hallym University of Medicine, Korea. Department of Nursing, Graduate School of Catholic University, Korea. Correspondence to: jhpark@kangwon.ac.kr 12 2019 31 12 2019 32 4 151 157 11 11 2019 02 12 2019 10 12 2019 © 2019 Korean Association of Physical Anthropologists 2019 Korean Association of Physical Anthropologists This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

The plantaris muscle is a small muscle with a short belly and long thin tendon that forms part of the posterior superficial compartment of the calf. The purpose of this study was to classify the insertion type of plantaris tendon of Korean population, to measure anthropological characteristics by measuring the width and thickness, and to obtain clinically applicable anatomical basis data. The dissection was performed on 68 lower limbs (34 right, 34 left) fixed in formalin mixture. The types of insertion of plantaris tendon was classified according to the area and location of insertion into calcaneal tuberosity and calcaneal bone. In this study, all five types were identified. 25 limbs (36.8%) were classified into type 1, 8 limbs (11.8%) into types 2 and 3 respectively, 5 limbs (7.4%) into type 4, 18 lower extremities (26.5%) into type 5. The plantaris tendon was found to be absent in 4 lower limbs (5.9%). No differences in body side or gender were found in the insertion type of plantaris tendon. The thickness of the plantaris tendon was 0.72±0.27 mm for males and 0.59±0.18 mm for females, and males were thicker than females(p=0.029). However, there was no difference between the two genders in the width of the plantaris tendon. In conclusion, this study not only examined the morphological characteristics of plantaris tendon in Korean population, but also presented basic anatomical data that doctors can apply to clinical practice.

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The data are presented as number.

 Classification of plantaris tendon according to insertion type

The data are presented as number(percent).

 Frequency of right and left side according to insertion type of plantaris tendon

The data are presented as number(percent).

 Comparison of width and thickness of the plantaris tendon between male and female

The data are presented as mean±SD, *: p<0.05.

 Comparison of width and thickness of the plantaris tendon between right and left side

The data are presented as mean±SD.

 Frequency of Koreans and Europeans according to the insertion type of plantaris tendon

The data are presented as number(percent).