What is the Femoral Nerve?
Femoral nerve: Located on the outer side of the femoral artery, it is immediately divided into multiple muscle branches and cutaneous branches, of which two nerves are always associated with arteries and femoral veins. The femoral nerve comes from lumbar 2 to lumbar 4, the thickest of the branches of the lumbar plexus, walking between the psoas muscle and the iliopsoas muscle in the concavity, sending out muscle branches to these two muscles, passing through the inguinal ligament to the thigh, The muscle and skin quadriceps muscle branch are divided into the following terminal branches and dominate their distribution areas.
- Chinese name
- Femoral nerve
- Foreign name
- femoral nerve
- Location
- Lateral femoral artery
- Subject
- Systems anatomy
- Femoral nerve: Located on the outer side of the femoral artery, it is immediately divided into multiple muscle branches and cutaneous branches, of which two nerves are always associated with arteries and femoral veins. The femoral nerve comes from lumbar 2 to lumbar 4, the thickest of the branches of the lumbar plexus, walking between the psoas muscle and the iliopsoas muscle in the concavity, sending out muscle branches to these two muscles, passing through the inguinal ligament to the thigh, The muscle and skin quadriceps muscle branch are divided into the following terminal branches and dominate their distribution areas.
Femoral nerve overview
- Femoral nerve: It comes from the 2nd to 4th lumbar nerves. After it is emitted from the lumbar plexus, it descends between the psoas major and diaphragm muscles, and enters the femoral muscle along the muscle cavity. It is divided into several branches in front of the femur; the terminal saphenous nerve accompanying the femoral artery into the adductor tube passes through the medial wall of the adductor tube to the inner side of the knee joint. Nerves are the motor nerves of the anterior femoral muscles, as well as the sensory nerves of the skin of the anterior femur and medial leg.
Femoral nerve anatomy
- The femoral nerve (lumbar 2-4 ) is the largest branch of the lumbar plexus, descending between the psoas major and diaphragm muscles, and branching to this muscle. It enters the thigh through the midpoint of the inguinal ligament and divides into several branches.
- (1) Muscle branch, the femoral nerve is a motor nerve of the thigh anterior muscle group. It emerges immediately after the midpoint of the inguinal ligament and branches immediately. Its muscle branch enters and controls the sartorius muscle, rectus femoris muscle, lateral femoris muscle, and intermediate femur muscle , Nerve femoral muscle nerve branches to the knee joint muscles; another branch to the pubic muscle; muscle branches issue small joints into the hip and knee joints.
- (2) Anterior cutaneous branch, often two, on the thigh, near the middle 1/3 junction, inside the sartorius muscle, passing through the sartorius muscle (dominates this muscle) to the deep side of the broad fascia, and then through The broad fascia is distributed on the skin in the middle, lower part of the front of the thigh, and there are branches down to the knee joint, and there is a branch to the inferior sacroiliac branch.
- The saphenous nerve (lumbar 3-4 ) belongs to the cutaneous branch, which is the longest terminal branch of the femoral nerve, with the femoral artery descending into the adductor tube. In the lower part of the tube, the branch of the descending knee artery passes through the adductor aponeurosis and then in the suture The rear of the carcass muscles goes straight down the medial side of the knee joint, and the subcutaneous skin from the sartorius muscles to the gracilis muscles is shallowed from the medial tibial tuberosity. Following the great saphenous vein, it descends along the medial edge of the tibia to the medial edge of the foot and branches along the way Distributed on the skin. After the saphenous nerve emerges from the adductor tube, it sends out the inferior iliac branch. The inferior zygomatic branch is connected to the cutaneous nerves on the medial, lateral, and medial thighs, as well as short branches of the saphenous nerve, to form the zygomatic plexus.
- Variation: The femoral nerve consisting of lumbar 1-4 is a common type, about 67.9%. Sometimes, an extra branch is issued between the femoral nerve and the obturator nerve. It is called the parafemoral nerve and is located in the lumbar great (small) muscles and iliac crest. Between the lumbar fascia and the femoral nerve, it was also distributed in the femoral nerve distribution area (5.6%).
Femoral nerve femoral nerve injury
- Femoral nerve injury, difficulty in flexing the thigh, difficulty in stretching the calf in the sitting position, difficulty in walking; atrophy of the quadriceps muscles, prominent sacrum; disappearance of knee jump reflexes; sensory disturbances in front of the thighs and inside of the calves.