What does the sural nerve affect?
Your sural nerve is just below your skin’s surface in the back of your lower leg (calf). It enables you to detect foot position and sensations, including touch, temperature and pain.
What causes sural nerve damage?
The sural nerve can become injured or irritated in a variety of ways. It can get stretched and injured during an ankle sprain or some other injury. Also, since its course around the ankle and lateral side of the foot can vary, it may inadvertently get injured during a surgical procedure in the area.
How is sural nerve damage diagnosed?
Physical examination is the key to diagnosis. Tapping over the nerve (known as the Tinel) creates an “electrical” sensation that is most exaggerated at the location of nerve injury. There may also be localized swelling and tenderness on the outside of the foot and ankle, along the course of the nerve.
What two nerves form the sural nerve?
The sural nerve has its origins within the sciatic nerve, coming from terminal branches of the tibial and common fibular nerves.
How long does it take for sural nerve to heal?
Among the three nerve-injury groups, sural nerve recovery was slowest, with the presence of painful neuromas in its innervation zone. However, sensation in the above cutaneous nerve injury region gradually recovered to normal by 6 months to 1 year after surgery.
What does sural nerve damage feel like?
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.
How long does it take for the sural nerve to heal?
What is sural sensory neuropathy?
Introduction. The sural is a sensory nerve, distally and superficially placed in the foot making it most accessible for nerve conduction studies. It has a low risk for compressive injury[1] and being distal reflects the status of the peripheral nerve in length-dependent peripheral neuropathies.
How do you tension the sural nerve?
It is possible to place the sural nerve under tension, similar to doing a slump or a SLR, by extending the knee and dorsiflexing the ankle. This may aggravate the sural nerve if it is irritated. Much of the examination should be to clear the knee and ankle, and rule out stress fractures of tibia, fibula, or calcaneus.
Is the sural nerve the same as sciatic nerve?
In the posterior thigh, the sciatic nerve divides into its two main branches: the common peroneal nerve and the tibial nerve. Each of these nerves gives off a branch, which together forms the sural nerve. This nerve arises below the knee and travels superficially in the posterior leg.
What is the sural nerve?
The sural nerve (S1, S2) is a peripheral nerve that arises in the posterior compartment of the leg (calf or sural region). It is formed by the union of two smaller sensory nerves: the medial sural cutaneous nerve (a branch of the tibial nerve ), and lateral sural cutaneous nerve (branch of the common fibular nerve ).
What does the lateral sural cutaneous nerve do?
The lateral sural cutaneous nerve is a branch of the common fibular (peroneal) nerve (L4-S2) that passes over the lateral head of the gastrocnemius muscle. Upon reaching the distal one-third of the leg, these nerves merge to form the sural nerve.
What happens when your sural nerve is damaged?
It provides sensation to those areas and to your two outside toes, and problems can occur if the nerve is irritated or damaged. Below, we take a closer look at why your sural nerve can become damaged, and how it is treated.
What is the sural nerve yellow?
It is formed by terminal branches of the tibial and common peroneal nerves that join together in the superficial aspect of the distal third of the leg. See image R Sural Nerve Yellow It is purely sensory and easily located anatomically, making it a commonly used site for peripheral nerve biopsies and harvesting for nerve grafting.