Cortical area · one in each half of the brain

Paracentral lobule

Where the body map tucks inside: moving and feeling your legs, feet and bladder.

The paracentral lobule sits on the inner surface of each half of the brain, where the motor and touch strips fold over the top of the head. Its front part moves your leg and foot, and its back part feels them. It also helps with voluntary control of the bladder, the ability to hold on until you reach a bathroom.

Where it is

On the inner surface of each half of the brain, facing the other half, near the very top of the head. It forms a small U-shape around the end of the central groove.

What it does

Moving legs and feet

Its front part is the leg and foot area of the motor strip, sending commands for walking, kicking and wiggling your toes.

Feeling legs and feet

Its back part is the leg and foot area of the touch strip, receiving sensations from the lower body.

Bladder control

It helps you hold on and choose when to go to the toilet.

Think of it as the part of a keyboard that wraps around the edge: the keys for your legs and feet are tucked over the top, on the inner side of the brain.

Works with

Primary motor cortexIt continues the motor strip over the top of the head, completing the body map with the legs and feet.
Primary somatosensory cortexIt continues the touch strip too, so leg feeling sits right beside leg movement.
Corticospinal tractIts leg commands travel down this tract on one of the longest trips in the nervous system, to the lower spinal cord.
Superior frontal gyrusThe supplementary motor area just in front helps plan the leg movements it carries out.
PrecuneusIts neighbor behind helps keep track of where your body is in space.

When it goes wrong

Stroke

The anterior cerebral artery feeds this area, so a stroke there often weakens or numbs the opposite leg more than the arm, and can affect bladder control.

Pressure from the midline

A tumor growing from the membrane between the two halves of the brain can press on this area and cause weakness in the opposite leg.

For learning only, not medical advice. If you have a health concern, talk to a doctor.

Surprising facts

Your feet on the body map are not on the outside of the brain at all. They are tucked inside the deep groove between the two halves.
Because the leg areas of the two sides lie right next to each other at the midline, a single problem there can affect both legs at once, which is unusual for the brain.

Where the name comes from

"Para" is Greek for beside, so "paracentral" means next to the central groove. "Lobule" comes from Latin and means a small lobe.

Learn it in a lesson

Moving and feelingThe motor and sensory strips. A short guided lesson in 3D.

Quick quiz

3 questions. Your answers are saved and come back in your daily review.

Which of these is a job of the paracentral lobule?
Show the answer
Moving legs and feet. Its front part is the leg and foot area of the motor strip, sending commands for walking, kicking and wiggling your toes.
The paracentral lobule is part of which larger structure?
Show the answer
Motor strip. It belongs to the motor strip.
Which part fits this description? "Like the part of a keyboard that wraps around the edge: the keys for your legs and feet are tucked over the top, on the inner side of the brain."
Show the answer
Paracentral lobule. It is the paracentral lobule. Where the body map tucks inside: moving and feeling your legs, feet and bladder.

Sources

Paracentral lobule, Radiopaedia
Neuroanatomy, Postcentral Gyrus, StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf
Anterior Cerebral Artery Stroke, StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf

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Explore the paracentral lobule in 3D

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