Muscular and skin innervation of lower limb

Muscular innervation (also known as motor innervation) and skin innervation (also known as cutaneous innervation) of the lower limbs is important to know for the diagnosis of certain types of paralysis or loss of sensations that may occur in the lower limbs

Muscular Innervation

  • Anterior compartment of thigh - femoral nerve
  • Medial compartment of thigh - obturator nerve
  • Posterior compartment of thigh - sciatic nerve
  • Biceps femoris (short head) - common peroneal nerve
  • Anterior compartment of leg - deep peroneal nerve
  • Posterior compartment of leg - tibial nerve

Skin Innervation

  • Lateral thigh - lateral femoral cutaneous nerve
  • Medial thigh - medial femoral cutaneous nerve
  • Anterior thigh - intermediate femoral cutaneous nerve
  • Posterior thigh - posterior femoral cutaneous nerve
  • Medial leg - saphenous nerve
  • Lateral leg - lateral sural nerve and superficial peroneal nerve
  • Posterior leg - sural nerve


Bibliography

SNELL, Richard S. Clinical Anatomy by Regions. 8th Edition edition. 2004. ISBN 978-0-7817-6404-9.