There are dozens of muscles in the lower body, most of which combine with other muscles to create the many movements of the human leg. For this reason, it is easiest to talk about muscles in terms of groups, rather than individually. In addition to the muscles of the foot, there are four primary groups in the lower body that account for virtually every movement of the legs: the glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps and calves.
Glutes
The glutes, or more commonly known as your butt muscles, perform a wide array of movements. Comprised of the gluteus maximus, glueteus medius and gluteus minimus, these muscles are active during hip extension, hip abduction, external rotation of the leg, internal rotation of the leg and adduction.
Quadriceps
The quadriceps, or quads for short, means four heads, named so for the four muscles that make up the group. This group of muscles is located on the front of the upper leg. Vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, vastus intermedius and rectus femoris perform knee extension and hip flexion.
Hamstrings
The hamstring group is also made up of four muscles: the semimembranosus, semitendinosus, biceps femoris long head and biceps femoris short head. This group of muscles is located on the back of the upper leg. These muscles allow for knee flexion, internal and external rotation of the knee, and hip extension.
Calves
The calves are a pair of muscles called the gastrocnemius and the soleus. They perform flexion of the knee and plantar flexion (pointing of the toe). Though it is not technically part of the calves, the tibialis anterior rivals the calves in that it performs the opposite action on the ankle, pulling the foot into dorsi flexion (moving the top of the foot towards the body).
Foot
According to podiatrychannel.com, there are 20 muscles in the foot that give the foot its shape by holding the bones in place and allow for movement. The peroneus longus and peroneus brevis allow the foot to go into eversion, or lifting the outer edge of the foot. The extensor digitorum muscles allow one to lift the toes, while the flexor digitorum muscles allow for curling of the toes. The big toe has its own muscles to control flexion and extension; they are known as the flexor hallucis and extensor hallucis muscles. The arch of the foot is called the plantar fascia. Even though it is technically not a muscle, it does allow for movement of the foot, critical for balance and walking.
