What happens if the sural nerve is damaged?
Damage or compression of the sural nerve can result in burning pain and diminished sensation or loss of sensation (numbness). This nerve passes down from the back of the knee along the outside of the lower leg. It’s located along the surface of the lower one-third of the leg.
What does sural nerve innervate?
The nerve is located near the midline in the lower leg and travels behind the lateral malleolus to innervate the foot. The sural nerve supplies sensation to the posterolateral aspect of the calf and the lateral aspect of the foot.
What causes sural nerve neuropathy?
Sural nerve neuropathy can be a result of an acute traumatic injury at different sites, chronic compression due to tendon dislocation or entrapment within a scar 4 or as a consequence of a traction injury with secondary fibrosis 2,3.
What is sural nerve entrapment?
Sural nerve entrapment was first described in 1974 [1]. The SN (also known as the short saphenous nerve) is a sensory nerve that can be entrapment in different locations, causing pain in the calf as well as the lateral ankle and foot.
Where is the sural nerve in the foot?
The sural nerve is a sensory nerve of the lower limb that supplies the lower posterolateral part of the leg and lateral part of the dorsum of the foot. It is generally described as a sensory nerve but may contain motor fibres (discussed later in this article)(14-16).
How do you treat sural nerve pain in your foot?
Sural neuralgia is a relatively rare condition and often responds to conservative treatments such as rest, physical therapy, massage therapy, antiinflammatory medications, tricyclic antidepressants, serotonin and norepinephrine inhibitors, gabapentin, and calcium channel blockers.
What is sural nerve?
The sural nerve is a cutaneous nerve, providing only sensation to the posterolateral aspect of the distal third of the leg and the lateral aspect of the foot, heel, and ankle.
What type of nerve is the sural nerve?
cutaneous nerve
The sural nerve is a cutaneous nerve, providing only sensation to the posterolateral aspect of the distal third of the leg and the lateral aspect of the foot, heel, and ankle.
Is sural nerve myelinated?
Myelinated Sural Nerve Fibers: TEM. Normally, myelinated sural nerve axons are wrapped by Schwann cell–derived myelin sheaths composed of tightly packed, concentric layers of plasma membrane, and normal Schwann cells have a distinct basal lamina (see Figure 1).
How is sural nerve formed?
Sural nerve is formed by communication of Medial Sural Cutaneous Nerve (MSCN), that arise from tibial nerve in popliteal fossa and Peroneal Communicating Nerve (PCN), a branch directly from common peroneal nerve or from Lateral Sural Cutaneous Nerve (LSCN).
How is sural nerve entrapment diagnosed?
The diagnosis of entrapment neuropathy of the SN is based on clinical examination. The symptomatology includes sensory alterations over the distribution area of the nerve, thus the postero-lateral side of the distal third of the leg, as well as the lateral aspect of the foot and fifth toe.
How do you fix sural nerve damage?