Fibula
latin: Os fibula
common: Calf bone
The calf bone (fibula) is located at the outer (lateral) side of the shin bone in the lower leg. The calf bone is as long as the shin bone, but is located about one centimeter lower. The calf bone is the thinner of te two bones.
At the ankle, you can feel the lower end of the calf bone (the outer bump on the ankle) and the lower end of the shin bone (the inner bump). The calf bone together with the shin bone create a fork that cups the talus bone and thus create a joint.At the knee, the calf bone meets the shin bone. The shin bone forms a joint with the thigh bone. The talus bone connected to the knee by ligaments but is not part of the knee joint.
How the calf bone hardens
Information about bone growth of bones can be used for forensic research, for instance to find out the age of a bone.
At birth, both ends of the calf bone are still week (cartilageous). The calf bone hardens from three centers: from both ends and from the middle. The lower end starts hardening (ossifying) around the second year, the top end starts hardening in the fourth year.
This ossification starts from the ends of the bones towards the middle of the bone. Only at the age of 16 years (women) or 19 years (men) is the whole bone completely hardened