What’s the Saphenous Nerve?
The saphenous nerve is a sensory nerve that runs deep within your leg. It’s part of your peripheral nervous system, which helps you feel sensations from your body and surroundings.
Function
What Does the Saphenous Nerve Do?
The saphenous nerve is responsible for carrying sensations from your leg to your spinal cord, allowing you to detect:
- The position of your leg
- Pain
- Temperature
- Touch
Where Do I Feel These Sensations?
You have a saphenous nerve in each leg. This nerve provides feeling in your inner lower leg, including areas like:
- The inside of your ankle
- Your inner calf
- The inside arch of your foot
- Your lower knee
How Does the Saphenous Nerve Affect My Health?
Doctors may use your saphenous nerve to help deliver pain relief, known as a nerve block. This might be done to:
- Stop pain in emergencies
- Numb your lower leg for a procedure
- Treat ongoing pain
Anatomy
What Does the Anatomy of the Saphenous Nerve Look Like?
The saphenous nerve starts in the upper inner thigh, in an area called the femoral triangle, where veins and nerves travel down the leg. As it moves through your leg:
- It passes through the adductor canal in the inner thigh.
- It then splits into two branches: the infrapatellar branch (below the kneecap) and the sartorial branch, which travels down past the knee to provide sensation in the lower leg, ankle, and foot.
Interesting Fact
In some areas, the saphenous nerve runs alongside the saphenous vein. Surgeons sometimes use part of this vein in coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery to help restore blood flow in people with heart disease.
Conditions and Disorders
What Issues Can Affect the Saphenous Nerve?
Because it’s deep in the leg, injuries to the saphenous nerve aren’t very common. However, conditions that may cause pain or damage to this nerve include:
- Pinched nerve (nerve entrapment) due to abnormal pressure
- Trauma, like deep cuts
Sometimes, complications from surgeries can also damage the saphenous nerve. These surgeries include:
- ACL reconstruction (fixing a knee ligament)
- Ankle surgery for fractures or arthritis
- Cardiac catheterization, a heart procedure
- Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery
- Knee arthroscopy (using a camera to check knee issues)
- Meniscus repair for knee cartilage
- Varicose vein stripping
When Should I Call a Doctor About My Saphenous Nerve?
Reach out to a healthcare provider if you feel symptoms that may suggest saphenous nerve issues, like:
- Dull or achy pain
- Burning feelings
- Muscle tightness
- Sharp, shooting pain
- Tingling or numbness in your inner knee, calf, or ankle
Your provider might refer you to a specialist or order a test called an electromyography (EMG) to check the nerve’s function.
Final Note
Your saphenous nerve lies deep within your leg and is responsible for sensations in parts of your lower knee, calf, ankle, and foot. Surgical complications are the most common cause of injury to this nerve. Nerve blocks using the saphenous nerve can relieve pain and help with procedures.
To reduce the risk of nerve injury during surgery, look for a surgeon who:
- Specializes in your specific procedure
- Takes time to review your medical history
- Explains the need for surgery and how it will help
- Has experience performing the procedure
