Femoral Nerve
Original Editor - Mandeepa Kumawat
Top Contributors - Lucinda hampton, Mandeepa Kumawat, Kirenga Bamurange Liliane, Naomi O'Reilly, Vidya Acharya, Khloud Shreif, Joao Costa, Kim Jackson and Eric Henderson
Description[1][edit | edit source]
Femoral nerve is the main nerve of anterior compartment of thigh. It originates from the dorsal sections of the anterior primary rami of L2, L3, L4 nerves and is the largest branch of lumbar plexus
Course[2][edit | edit source]
The femoral nerve is the largest branch of the lumbar plexus. The nerve descends from the lumbar plexus in the abdomen, travelling down through the fibres of psoas major. The nerve exits psoas major at the lower part of its lateral border, passing behind the iliac fossa to approximately the mid-point of the inguinal ligament. It then traverse below the inguinal ligament of about 4 cm into the thigh and splits into an anterior and posterior division.The lateral circumflex femoral artery is straddled by both sections.The nerve enters the femoral triangle by passing beneath the inguinal ligament, just lateral to the femoral artery. In the thigh,it lies outside the femoral sheath, and lateral to the femoral artery.
It passes through the femoral triangle lateral to the femoral vessels (enclosed within the femoral sheath) and gives off articular branches to the hip and knee joints.
The terminal cutaneous branch of the femoral nerve is the saphenous nerve which continues, with the femoral artery and vein, through the adductor canal.