Vol 80, No 3 (2021)
Case report
Published online: 2020-08-22
A bifurcated plantaris muscle: another confirmation of its high morphological variability? Another type of plantaris muscle
Abstract
The plantaris muscle usually begins with a short, narrow belly in the popliteal fossa at the lateral supracondylar line of the femur and the knee joint capsule. Then it forms a long and slender tendon and usually inserts into the calcaneal tuberosity on the medial side of Achilles tendon. Nevertheless, many anatomical variations of distal attachment have been described. Cases of atypical proximal origin are reported less frequently. In this paper, we have presented a case of a two headed plantaris muscle. First head attached to the condyle of the femoral bone, medially and inferiorly to the lateral head of the gastrocnemius muscle. The second one originated from the popliteal surface of the femur, just above the intercondylar fossa. According to present literature, no such case with atypical proximal origin was presented. Such information has potentially clinical significance during the surgical procedures performed in the area of the popliteal fossa.
Keywords: anatomical variationsplantaris muscleplantaris tendonrare variant
References
- Alfredson H. Midportion Achilles tendinosis and the plantaris tendon. Br J Sports Med. 2011; 45(13): 1023–1025.
- Bergman RA, Afifi AK, Miyauchi R. Illustrated encyclopedia of human anatomic variation. 2020. https://www.anatomyatlases.org/AnatomicVariants/AnatomyHP.shtml.
- Christy JA, Sathialakshmi V. Unilateral two headed plantaris muscle - a rare variation. Int J Anat Var. 2019; 12(1): 015–016.
- Cruveilhier J. Anatomie descriptive. 1st ed. Bechet Jeune, Paris 1834: 262–263.
- Daseler EH, Anson BJ. The plantaris muscle: an anatomical study of 750 specimens. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 1943; 25: 822–827.
- Gilbert TJ, Bullis BR, Griffiths HJ. Tennis calf or tennis leg. Orthopedics. 1996; 19(2): 179, 182, 184.
- Harvey FJ, Chu G, Harvey PM. Surgical availability of the plantaris tendon. J Hand Surg Am. 1983; 8(3): 243–247.
- Herzog RJ. Accessory plantaris muscle: anatomy and prevalence. HSS J. 2011; 7(1): 52–56.
- Kotian SR, Sachin KS, Bhat KMR. Bifurcated plantaris with rare relations to the neurovascular bundle in the popliteal fossa. Anat Sci Int. 2013; 88(4): 239–241.
- Rana K, Das S, Verma R. Double plantaris muscle: a cadaveric study with clinical importance. Int J Morphol. 2006; 24(3): 495–498.
- Kwinter D, Lagrew J, Kretzer J, et al. Unilateral double plantaris muscle: a rare anatomical variation. Int J Morphol. 2010; 28(4): 1097–1099.
- Le Double AF. Traite des variations du systeme musculaire de l`hommeet de leur signification au point de vue de l` anthropologie zoologique. Tome II. Schleicher frères, Paris 1897.
- Leekam RN, Agur AM, McKee NH. Using sonography to diagnose injury of plantaris muscles and tendons. Am J Roentgenol. 1999; 172(1): 185–189.
- Lopez GJ, Hoffman RS, Davenport M. Plantaris rupture: a mimic of deep venous thrombosis. J Emerg Med. 2011; 40(2): e27–e30.
- McMurrich J. The phylogeny of the crural flexors. Am J Anat. 1905; 4(1): 33–76.
- Moore KL, Agur AMR, Dalley AF. Clinically Oriented Anatomy. 7th ed. Lippincott Williams&Wilkins, Philadelphia 2013.
- Nayak SR, Krishnamurthy A, Prabhu LV, et al. Additional tendinous origin and entrapment of the plantaris muscle. Clinics (Sao Paulo). 2009; 64(1): 67–68.
- Olewnik Ł, Kurtys K, Gonera B, et al. Proposal for a new classification of plantaris muscle origin and its potential effect on the knee joint. Ann Anat. 2020; 231: 151506.
- Olewnik Ł, Podgórski M, Polguj M, et al. The plantaris muscle - rare relations to the neurovascular bundle in the popliteal fossa. Folia Morphol. 2018; 77(4): 785–788.
- Olewnik Ł, Wysiadecki G, Podgórski M, et al. The plantaris muscle tendon and its relationship with the achilles tendinopathy. Biomed Res Int. 2018; 2018: 9623579.
- Olewnik Ł, Wysiadecki G, Polguj M, et al. Anatomic study suggests that the morphology of the plantaris tendon may be related to Achilles tendonitis. Surg Radiol Anat. 2017; 39(1): 69–75.
- Olewnik Ł, Zielinska N, Karauda P, et al. A three-headed plantaris muscle: evidence that the plantaris is not a vestigial muscle? Surg Radiol Anat. 2020; 42(10): 1189–1193.
- Pękala PA, Kaythampillai L, Skinningsrud B, et al. Anatomical variations of the plantar fascia's origin with respect to age and sex-an MRI based study. Clin Anat. 2019; 32(4): 597–602.
- Sawant SP, Shaikh ST, More RMA. rare variation of plantaris muscle. Int J Biol Med Res. 2012; 3(4): 2437–2440.
- Shuhaiber JH, Shuhaiber HH. Plantaris tendon graft for atrioventricular valve repair: a novel hypothetical technique. Tex Heart Inst J. 2003; 30(1): 42–44.
- Simpson SL, Hertzog MS, Barja RH. The plantaris tendon graft: an ultrasound study. J Hand Surg Am. 1991; 16(4): 708–711.
- Smith J, Alfredson H, Masci L, et al. Differential plantaris-Achilles tendon motion: a sonographic and cadaveric investigation. PMR. 2017; 9(7): 691–698.
- Spina AA. The plantaris muscle: anatomy, injury, imaging, and treatment. J Can Chiropr Assoc. 2007; 51(3): 158–165.
- van Sterkenburg MN, Kerkhoffs GM, Kleipool RP, et al. The plantaris tendon and a potential role in mid-portion Achilles tendinopathy: an observational anatomical study. J Anat. 2011; 218(3): 336–341.
- van Sterkenburg MN, Kerkhoffs GM, van Dijk CN. Good outcome after stripping the plantaris tendon in patients with chronic mid-portion Achilles tendinopathy. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc. 2011; 19(8): 1362–1366.
