T10 spinal nerve

Nervus spinalis T10

NervousNervesThoraxLeft and right

View left in 3D View right in 3D

What it is
The T10 spinal nerve leaves the spinal canal between T10 and T11. 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 becomes the 10th intercostal nerve.
Function
Carries motor fibres to the muscles of its segment (myotome) and sensation back from its strip of skin (dermatome): a band of skin around the waist at the umbilicus.
Size
About 2-3 mm thick; the mixed nerve is only ~1 cm long before it divides
Clinical note
T10 at the umbilicus is a key sensory landmark; early appendicitis pain is felt here because the appendix shares T10 visceral afferents.

Nearby nervous structures 7th intercostal nerve, 8th intercostal nerve, T11 spinal nerve, T12 spinal nerve, T5 spinal nerve, T6 dorsal root ganglion, T6 spinal nerve, T7 spinal nerve, T8 spinal nerve, T9 spinal nerve