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Lateral cord

Cords · C5 C6 C7

Named for lying lateral to the axillary artery. Gives the lateral pectoral nerve, the musculocutaneous nerve, and the lateral root of the median nerve.

Traced from the start

  1. C5 nerve rootC6 nerve root
  2. Upper trunk
  3. C7 nerve root
  4. Middle trunk
  5. Anterior division of the upper trunkAnterior division of the middle trunk
  6. Lateral cord

Detail

Motor
Shoulder flexion and adduction, elbow flexion and supination, and forearm pronation with radial wrist flexion, through its branches. The thenar muscles are NOT lateral cord — they are C8-T1, reaching the median nerve through its medial root, and are spared in a lateral cord lesion
Sensory
Lateral forearm, and the palmar surface of the lateral three and a half digits

When it goes wrong

Penetrating axillary injury, or traction during shoulder dislocation

Weak elbow flexion and pronation with sensory loss over the lateral forearm and the radial side of the palm. Wrist and finger extension are spared — those are posterior cord.

Practise this structure

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