Medial and lateral plantar nerves
Terminal branches
Terminal branches of the tibial nerve arising in the tarsal tunnel beneath the flexor retinaculum. The medial plantar nerve (analogous to the median nerve) supplies the medial sole and three and a half toes; the lateral plantar nerve (analogous to the ulnar) supplies the lateral sole, one and a half toes and most of the intrinsic muscles.
Traced from the start
Detail
- Medial plantar
- Abductor hallucis, flexor digitorum brevis, flexor hallucis brevis, first lumbrical; skin of the medial sole and medial 3½ toes
- Lateral plantar
- All other intrinsic foot muscles (quadratus plantae, abductor digiti minimi, adductor hallucis, interossei, lateral three lumbricals); skin of the lateral sole and lateral 1½ toes
When it goes wrong
Morton's neuroma: a common plantar digital nerve compressed between the 3rd and 4th metatarsal heads by tight shoes or high heels
Sharp forefoot pain radiating into the adjacent toes, worse walking and relieved by removing the shoe, with a palpable click on squeezing the forefoot (Mulder's sign)
Jogger's foot: medial plantar nerve entrapped under abductor hallucis in runners with pes planus
Burning pain and numbness of the medial sole and arch during running
Practise this structure
3 questions in the bank tagged Lower Limb.
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