The tibia or shin bone, in human anatomy, is found medial (towards the middle) and anterior (towards the front) to the other such bone, the fibula. It is the second-longest bone in the human body, the largest being the femur. The tibia articulates with the femur and patella superiorly, the fibula laterally and with the ankle inferiorly.
Gender differences
In the male, its direction is vertical, and parallel with the bone of the opposite side; but in the female it has a slightly oblique direction downward and lateralward, to compensate for the greater obliquity of the femur.
It is prismoid in form, expanded above, where it enters into the knee-joint, contracted in the lower third, and again enlarged but to a lesser extent below.
The structure of the tibia is like that of the other long bones. The compact wall of the body is thickest at the junction of the middle and lower thirds of the bone.
In insects
Insect legs include a segment which is called the tibia between the tarsi and the femur. These legs are always found on the thorax.
