Saphenous nerve (L3–L4)
Main branches · L3 L4
Largest and longest cutaneous branch of the femoral nerve. Traverses the adductor canal with the femoral vessels, crossing the artery from lateral to medial, leaves the canal without passing through the adductor hiatus, pierces the fascia lata between sartorius and gracilis at the medial knee and descends with the great saphenous vein to the medial malleolus.
Traced from the start
Detail
- Motor
- None
- Sensory
- Medial leg and medial foot to the base of the great toe; infrapatellar branch to the skin below the patella
- Companion
- Great saphenous vein
When it goes wrong
Great saphenous vein harvest or stripping, knee arthroscopy through a medial portal, or a saphenous cut-down at the ankle
Numbness or neuroma pain along the medial leg and medial malleolus; infrapatellar branch injury numbs the skin below the kneecap — the one sensory loss below the knee that is NOT sciatic
Practise this structure
1 question in the bank tagged Saphenous Nerve.