Abstract
The plantar aponeurosis consists of the tibial and fibular parts. It is already known that the form of the fibular part markedly varies according to individuals. However, there have been few anatomical observations on this variation and none have statistically analysed it. This paper is concerned with the variation of the fibular part of the aponeurosis. Observations were carried out by dissecting thirty-nine present-day Japanese cadavers. The variations observed were classified into four types according to the Loth's method. It was clarified by means of the Chi-square test that the percentage of the medial fibre bundle is significantly higher in present-day Japanese than in Europeans, that is up to 20.5%. It was also found that the top portion of the medial fibre bundle, if it exists, is the origin of a part of the transverse head of the adductor pollicis muscle and the flexor digiti minimi brevis muscle in some cases.
