Ossa membri inferioris

In human anatomy, the lower leg is the part of the lower limb that lies between the knee and the ankle.

The thigh is between the hip and knee and makes up the rest of the lower limb.

The term lower limb or "lower extremity" is commonly used to describe all of the leg.

This article generally follows the common usage.

The leg from the knee to the ankle is called the crus or cnemis /ˈniːmɪs/.

The calf is the back portion, and the tibia or shinbone together with the smaller fibula make up the front of the lower leg.

Comparison between human and gorilla skeletons. (Gorilla in non-natural stretched posture.)

Evolution has provided the human body with two distinct features: the specialization of the upper limb for visually guided manipulation and the lower limb's development into a mechanism specifically adapted for efficient bipedal gait.

While the capacity to walk upright is not unique to humans, other primates can only achieve this for short periods and at a great expenditure of energy.

The human adaption to bipedalism is not limited to the leg, however, but has also affected the location of the body's center of gravity, the reorganization of internal organs, and the form and biomechanism of the trunk.

In humans, the double S-shaped vertebral column acts as a great shock-absorber which shifts the weight from the trunk over the load-bearing surface of the feet.

The human legs are exceptionally long and powerful as a result of their exclusive specialization for support and locomotion—in orangutans the leg length is 111% of the trunk; in chimpanzees 128%, and in humans 171%.