L2 spinal nerve
Nervus spinalis L2
NervousNervesAbdomenLeft and right
View left in 3D View right in 3D
- What it is
- The L2 spinal nerve leaves the spinal canal between L2 and L3. Its sensory (dorsal) and motor (ventral) roots meet just beyond the dorsal root ganglion; the short mixed nerve then splits into a small dorsal ramus for the back muscles and skin and a larger ventral ramus, which enters the lumbar plexus inside psoas.
- Function
- Carries motor fibres to the muscles of its segment (myotome) and sensation back from its strip of skin (dermatome): the upper front of the thigh.
- Size
- About 4-5 mm thick; the mixed nerve is only ~1 cm long before it divides
- Clinical note
- Test: hip flexion (iliopsoas); it contributes to the femoral, obturator and lateral femoral cutaneous nerves.