Sural nerve
Nervus suralis
NervousNervesLegLeft and right
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- What it is
- A cutaneous nerve formed by the medial sural branch of the tibial nerve and a communicating branch from the common fibular nerve. It descends just under the skin down the back of the calf beside the small saphenous vein, passes behind the lateral malleolus and runs along the outer edge of the foot to the little toe.
- Function
- Sensation from the lower back of the calf, the outer ankle and the lateral border of the foot.
- Size
- About 2 mm thick; ~40 cm long
- Clinical note
- Losing it only numbs a strip of the foot, so it is the standard donor for nerve grafts and the nerve biopsied to diagnose peripheral neuropathy.