Current Pedorthics | January-February 2014 | Vol. 46, Issue 1 | Page 22

Off the shelf
McMinn’s Color Atlas of Foot and Ankle Anatomy, Fourth Edition
By Bari Logan, Ralph Hutchings (Photography)
© Philadelphia, Elsevier Logan, 2012
Reviewed By: Dean Mason, C. Ped, CO
With so many atlas resources out there on
foot and ankle anatomy, it is often hard to
pinpoint one that is well worth adding to
your professional book collection. But, I have
found the Holy Grail that simply put, is one
of the finest resources available on leg/ankle/
foot anatomy. What Netter’s work is to the
entire body as a system, this work is the gold
standard for the lower limb.
As an owner and user of the second edition,
this new McMinn’s Color Atlas of Foot and Ankle Anatomy,
Fourth Edition has all the familiar looks of the original with some
enhancements that are valuable for educating patients about their
pathology and structure of their feet. This current edition will
become easily tabbed for quick reference to issues like plantar
fasciitis, skeletal and innervation/vascular sections as in my previous
edition.
With an orientation of the cardinal body planes along with positions
of the foot, the only thing missing here is the Root-Merton-Weed
explanations of motion and orientation in these planes. The
use of the color photographs does much to clarify those hinged
wood diagrams that really require one to use their imagination to
understand the concept. Illustrations of the spatial relationships
help to grasp these concepts.
The convention used in the book is a skeletal, partially dissected
(limb with integument removed showing the musculature) and
photo of the actual part being discussed. Important landmarks,
vascular and muscular systems are identified and even show cross
sections of the internal organs left intact to orient the reader. This
new edition even includes the cross section of the pelvis, for both

sexes with radiographs used regularly.
Broken into multiple sections including the hip region, the
thigh, knee and leg and the foot, detailed photos offer a visual
understanding of to the anatomy of lower extremities. Shown
with cross sections, this edition allows you to see more directly the
muscles, bones, and vasculature in situ. A welcome addition is
photography of how to obtain a femoral pulse and popliteal pulse
with a good example of a knee shown in flexion with the patella
removed to show the internal support structures, offering insights
into where the ACL is and how it works, in full color.
The largest section covers the foot in intricate detail; weight
bearing, non-weight bearing, dorsiflexed, plantarflexed, anterior,
posterior, inverted and everted medial and lateral. The skeletal
structure is explained bone by bone, articulation by articulation.
Drawings indicate the origin and insertion of muscles in the foot,
followed by a complete dissection of the foot.
Also covered are radiographs of the foot, helpful in understanding
the normal foot and its articulations, along with coverage on
imaging, including MRI images of the foot in normal orientations
and cross sections. Another highlight of this book is the usefulness
of the appendices. There is exceptional coverage of the skin and
hair anatomy followed by the muscu