Which nerve is most often responsible for sensory loss in the medial leg?

Which nerve is most often responsible for sensory loss in the medial leg?

• A. Sural nerve
• B. Saphenous nerve
• C. Common fibular nerve
• D. Tibial nerve

Answer: (B)

The main idea is understanding which nerves supply the skin of the leg and where their areas of sensation lie. The saphenous nerve is the sensory branch of the femoral nerve that runs medially down the leg, staying with the great saphenous vein through the adductor canal and then supplying the medial aspect of the leg from knee to ankle (often including the medial malleolus region). Because it provides the cutaneous innervation to that medial strip, involvement or injury to this nerve reliably produces sensory loss there. In contrast, the sural nerve covers the posterior-lateral aspect of the leg and the lateral foot; the tibial nerve supplies sensation to much of the posterior leg and the sole of the foot; and the common fibular nerve covers the anterior and lateral compartments of the leg and the dorsum of the foot. So a loss of sensation specifically along the medial leg points most directly to the saphenous nerve.

The main idea is understanding which nerves supply the skin of the leg and where their areas of sensation lie. The saphenous nerve is the sensory branch of the femoral nerve that runs medially down the leg, staying with the great saphenous vein through the adductor canal and then supplying the medial aspect of the leg from knee to ankle (often including the medial malleolus region). Because it provides the cutaneous innervation to that medial strip, involvement or injury to this nerve reliably produces sensory loss there.

In contrast, the sural nerve covers the posterior-lateral aspect of the leg and the lateral foot; the tibial nerve supplies sensation to much of the posterior leg and the sole of the foot; and the common fibular nerve covers the anterior and lateral compartments of the leg and the dorsum of the foot. So a loss of sensation specifically along the medial leg points most directly to the saphenous nerve.