I just bruised my shin and wondered why there is not more muscle cover over the front of the tibia
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There’s very little benefit from a physical standpoint to put muscle in an area that doesn’t contribute to our natural range of motion as designed through our genetically predisposed skeletal structure and corresponding motor functions supported through the muscle.
The job of muscles is not to protect your bones, but to move various parts of your body. The muscles in your limbs move the various joints and so allow you to walk, pick stuff up etc.
Your calf and your shin muscles act on your ankle joint, moving your foot with respect to your lower leg. Humans need to push the ball of their foot downwards for various reasons: you do it while walking and running, or if you stand on tiptoe. This action lifts the entire weight of your body, so needs a fairly strong muscle.
In contrast your shin acts to lift your foot upwards. That is necessary (otherwise your foot would droop), but never/rarely requires lifting more than the weight of the foot itself.
So naturally the calf must be stronger because it is doing a more difficult job. The same is true of lots of opposing pairs of muscles in your body.
Mechanical action.
Nothing stops the shin from growing as big as the calf. The problem arises in exercising it. Rising onto your toes works the calf. This means body weight as well as whatever weights you choose works that muscle. The shin is actually next to the calf and only has to raise the foot. Good luck putting any weight behind that.
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