Definition and research guide
This page combines a MeSH definition, publication statistics and selected research abstracts. It is a starting point for reading the literature, not a medical textbook or a systematic evidence review.
Content available: 3 complete abstracts (648 words), 9 references. Full article text is not stored or reproduced here; follow the PMID, DOI or PMC links to read the original sources and their access terms.
Definition
The second longest bone of the skeleton. It is located on the medial side of the lower leg, articulating with the fibula laterally, the talus distally, and the femur proximally.
Definition: NLM Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) scope note (Public domain (U.S. National Library of Medicine); attribution requested). View the MeSH record.
Also known as: Tibias.
Where it fits in the MeSH classification
- Broader topics
- Leg Bones
Related concepts
Research landscape
PubMed indexes 42,944 records tagged with the MeSH heading “Tibia” (counts retrieved 2026-10-31). 8,058 of them (18.8%) were published from 2020 onward, and the busiest period so far is through 1999 with 14,662 records.
Reviews account for 1,848 records (4.3%) and meta-analyses for 242. Randomized controlled trials number 733 (1.7%) as a share of all records on the topic. Randomized trials make up only a small share of this literature, so much of what is known comes from laboratory, observational or descriptive work.
Show the data
| Period | Records |
|---|---|
| through 1999 | 14,662 |
| 2000-2009 | 7,937 |
| 2010-2019 | 12,287 |
| 2020 onward | 8,058 |
Publication-type chart data
| Type | Records | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Reviews | 1,848 | 4.3% |
| Meta-analyses | 242 | 0.6% |
| Randomized controlled trials | 733 | 1.7% |
Method: PubMed query "Tibia"[MeSH Terms] with publication-type and date filters, retrieved 2026-10-31.
Reading the evidence in anatomy and physiology
Anatomy describes how body structures are built and physiology describes how they normally work, so most findings here are descriptive or mechanistic rather than evidence about treatment. Much of what is known comes from dissection, imaging, tissue studies and experiments in animals, and measurements in healthy volunteers can differ from those in people with disease or at different ages. Normal ranges vary between individuals and populations. Check whether a result was measured in people or in another species, the age and health of the participants, and the method used.
Evidence from open-access studies
These open-access studies come from PubMed’s best-match results for this heading (papers whose main topic it is), ranked here by citation count, with one recent addition. Each abstract is reproduced in full under its recorded open licence so that you can read the authors’ own words. They illustrate the literature; they are not a systematic summary of it. Citation counts measure attention, not reliability or clinical benefit.
| Study / authors | Year | Source label / design | Europe PMC citations | Licence / source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Combined Effects of Mechanical Loading and Piezo1 Chemical Activation on 22-Months-Old Female Mouse Bone Adaptation | 2025 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 10 | cc by PMID 40410950 · DOI · PMC12341773 |
| Accuracy of Combined High Tibial Slope Correction Osteotomy Using 3-Dimensional-Planned Patient-Specific Instrumentation | 2024 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 6 | cc by PMID 39582220 · DOI · PMC11608524 |
| Abnormal mechanical load aggravates subchondral bone remodeling and uneven tibial plateau settlement in knee osteoarthritis via activation of osteoblast Piezo1-Ca²⁺-JAK2/STAT3 signaling | 2026 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 5 | cc by PMID 41694589 · DOI · PMC12905582 |
Combined Effects of Mechanical Loading and Piezo1 Chemical Activation on 22-Months-Old Female Mouse Bone Adaptation [1]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- With age, bones mechanosensitivity is reduced, which limits their ability to adapt to loading.
- Closing excerpt
- This combination of mechanical and chemical stimulation could be a promising treatment strategy to help promote bone formation in patients who have low bone mass due to aging.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (196 words)
With age, bones mechanosensitivity is reduced, which limits their ability to adapt to loading. The exact mechanism leading to this loss of mechanosensitvity is still unclear, making developing effective treatment challenging. Current treatments mostly focus on preventing bone mass loss (such as bisphosphonates) or promoting bone formation (such as Sclerostin inhibitors) to limit the decline of bones mass. However, treatments do not target the cause of bone mass loss which may be, in part, due to the bone's inability to initiate a normal bone mechanoadaptation response. In this work, we investigated the effects of 2 weeks of tibia loading, and Piezo1 agonist injection in vivo on 22-month-old mouse bone adaptation response. We used an optimized loading profile, which induced high fluid flow velocity and low strain magnitude in adult mouse tibia. We found that tibia loading and Yoda2 injection have an additive effect on increasing cortical bone parameters in 22-month-old mice. In vivo osteocytes calcium signaling imaging suggests that Yoda2 is able to reach osteocytes and activate Piezo1. This combination of mechanical and chemical stimulation could be a promising treatment strategy to help promote bone formation in patients who have low bone mass due to aging.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 40410950 · DOI · PMC12341773
Accuracy of Combined High Tibial Slope Correction Osteotomy Using 3-Dimensional-Planned Patient-Specific Instrumentation [2]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- BackgroundIf an increased posterior tibial slope (PTS) and concomitant unicompartmental osteoarthritis are present, a simultaneous sagittal (slope) and coronal correcting high tibial osteotomy has been recommended.
- Closing excerpt
- 9°).
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (279 words)
BackgroundIf an increased posterior tibial slope (PTS) and concomitant unicompartmental osteoarthritis are present, a simultaneous sagittal (slope) and coronal correcting high tibial osteotomy has been recommended. However, no study has investigated the accuracy of such combined high tibial slope correction osteotomies.Purpose(1) To report the accuracy of navigated high tibial slope correction osteotomies using patient-specific instruments (PSI) and (2) to analyze the influence of an open wedge osteotomy (OWO) versus a closed wedge osteotomy (CWO) and the hinge axis angle (HAA) on the accuracy of the PTS correction.Study designCohort study; Level of evidence, 3.MethodsAll PSI PTS-reducing osteotomies performed at 1 institution between 2019 and 2022 were reviewed. Three-dimensional (3D) accuracy was defined as the mean absolute 3D angular difference between the planned and achieved surgical correction (in degrees) in 3D models of computed tomography data. The influence of OWO versus CWO and the HAA on the reported accuracy was analyzed and a cutoff defined using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis.ResultsEighteen patients who underwent a slope-reducing CWO (n = 9) or OWO (n = 9) were included. The 3D accuracy for PTS was 2.3°± 1.1° (mean ± SD), with CWO being more accurate than OWO (1.4°± 0.9° vs 3.1°± 0.6°; P r = 0.788; P 38.9° predicted a PTS error >2° (odds ratio, 1.12 [95% CI, 1.04-1.20; P = .004]; area under the curve, 0.95 [95% CI, 0.89-1.00; P ConclusionSlope-reducing osteotomy can accurately be achieved using PSI. CWO demonstrated an increased accuracy when compared with OWO, which strongly depended on the HAA. With an aim of combined PTS and coronal correction, CWO should be considered the primary choice for accurate slope reduction with a coronal/sagittal correction cutoff of 0.8:1 (HAA, 38.9°).
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 39582220 · DOI · PMC11608524
Abnormal mechanical load aggravates subchondral bone remodeling and uneven tibial plateau settlement in knee osteoarthritis via activation of osteoblast Piezo1-Ca²⁺-JAK2/STAT3 signaling [3]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- Mechanical overload is closely associated with the theory of uneven tibial plateau settlement in knee osteoarthritis (KOA).
- Closing excerpt
- Collectively, our findings identify the Piezo1-Ca²⁺-JAK2/STAT3 axis as a key mediator of osteoblast mechanotransduction under pathological loading and a potential therapeutic target for mechanical overload-associated KOA.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (173 words)
Mechanical overload is closely associated with the theory of uneven tibial plateau settlement in knee osteoarthritis (KOA). Excessive mechanical stress leads to abnormal force distribution within the subchondral bone, eventually inducing medial tibial plateau collapse. This process disrupts local biomechanical homeostasis and triggers aberrant bone remodeling. However, the precise molecular basis of subchondral bone remodeling and structural changes in the knee is still not fully understood. In this work, we employed a mouse model of KOA with osteoblast-specific Piezo1 deletion, together with in vitro loading experiments, to demonstrate that mechanical overload activates Piezo1, promotes Ca²⁺ influx, and drives osteoblast differentiation, thereby contributing to subchondral bone sclerosis. Mechanistic investigations revealed that inhibition of the Piezo1-JAK2/STAT3 signaling axis alleviated abnormal osteoblast activation and significantly ameliorated subchondral bone sclerosis and cartilage degeneration. Moreover, deletion of JAK2 in osteoblasts further confirmed that blockade of this pathway mitigates KOA progression in vivo. Collectively, our findings identify the Piezo1-Ca²⁺-JAK2/STAT3 axis as a key mediator of osteoblast mechanotransduction under pathological loading and a potential therapeutic target for mechanical overload-associated KOA.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 41694589 · DOI · PMC12905582
Key reviews and meta-analyses
The most cited review-type papers among PubMed’s best-match results for this heading, listed with bibliographic details only. Follow the links for the full text and access terms.
- Research article PRECICE intramedullary limb lengthening system [4]
- Research article Current Role of Computer Navigation in Total Knee Arthroplasty [5]
- Research article In vivo evidence for tibial plateau slope as a risk factor for anterior cruciate ligament injury: a systematic review and meta-analysis [6]
- Research article Unicompartmental Knee Arthroplasty vs High Tibial Osteotomy for Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis [7]
- Research article Complications associated with opening wedge high tibial osteotomy--A review of the literature and of 15 years of experience [8]
- Research article The role of high tibial osteotomy in the varus knee [9]
References
- Meslier QA, Oehrlein R, Shefelbine SJ. Combined Effects of Mechanical Loading and Piezo1 Chemical Activation on 22-Months-Old Female Mouse Bone Adaptation. . 2025. PMID 40410950 · DOI · PMC12341773
- Zindel C, Hodel S, Jud L, Zimmermann SM, Vlachopoulos L, Fucentese SF. Accuracy of Combined High Tibial Slope Correction Osteotomy Using 3-Dimensional-Planned Patient-Specific Instrumentation. . 2024. PMID 39582220 · DOI · PMC11608524
- Li H, Zhang S, Feng C, Cheng F, Han Y, Wang M, et al.. Abnormal mechanical load aggravates subchondral bone remodeling and uneven tibial plateau settlement in knee osteoarthritis via activation of osteoblast Piezo1-Ca²⁺-JAK2/STAT3 signaling. . 2026. PMID 41694589 · DOI · PMC12905582
- Paley D. PRECICE intramedullary limb lengthening system. Expert Rev Med Devices. 2015. PMID 25692375 · DOI
- Jones CW, Jerabek SA. Current Role of Computer Navigation in Total Knee Arthroplasty. J Arthroplasty. 2018. PMID 29506932 · DOI
- Wordeman SC, Quatman CE, Kaeding CC, Hewett TE. In vivo evidence for tibial plateau slope as a risk factor for anterior cruciate ligament injury: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Am J Sports Med. 2012. PMID 22539537 · DOI · PMC4168892
- Cao Z, Mai X, Wang J, Feng E, Huang Y. Unicompartmental Knee Arthroplasty vs High Tibial Osteotomy for Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. J Arthroplasty. 2018. PMID 29203354 · DOI
- Woodacre T, Ricketts M, Evans JT, Pavlou G, Schranz P, Hockings M, et al.. Complications associated with opening wedge high tibial osteotomy--A review of the literature and of 15 years of experience. Knee. 2016. PMID 26596554 · DOI
- Rossi R, Bonasia DE, Amendola A. The role of high tibial osteotomy in the varus knee. J Am Acad Orthop Surg. 2011. PMID 21980024 · DOI
About this article
- Sources
- NLM Medical Subject Headings (definition, synonyms); NCBI PubMed (counts, identifiers); Europe PMC (open-access abstracts and citation counts).
- Verification
- Every reference was resolved against PubMed on 2026-10-31; title, year and DOI matched.
- Review state
- automated source verified; no human expert review has been recorded yet.
- Version
- 1, last updated 2026-10-31.
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Evidence strength
EvidenceHelix's computed view of the study designs behind this topic: how common meta-analyses, randomized trials and reviews are, how recent the literature is, and a plain-language reading. It describes the design mix of the literature. It is not a quality appraisal of any study, and it is not medical advice.