Obturator nerve

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Nerve: Obturator nerve

Structures surrounding right hip-joint. (Obturator nerve labeled at upper right.)

Nerves of the right lower extremity. Front view.
Latin	nervus obturatorius
Gray's	subject #212 953
Innervates	medial compartment of thigh
From	Lumbar plexus
To	posterior branch of obturator nerve, anterior branch of obturator nerve
Dorlands / Elsevier	n_05/12566297

The obturator nerve arises from the ventral divisions of the second, third, and fourth lumbar nerves; the branch from the third is the largest, while that from the second is often very small.

1 Path
2 Innervation
3 Branches
4 Additional images
5 External links

[edit] Path

It descends through the fibers of the Psoas major, and emerges from its medial border near the brim of the pelvis; it then passes behind the common iliac vessels, and on the lateral side of the hypogastric vessels and ureter, which separate it from the ureter, and runs along the lateral wall of the lesser pelvis, above and in front of the obturator vessels, to the upper part of the obturator foramen.

Here it enters the thigh, through the obturator canal, and divides into an anterior and a posterior branch, which are separated at first by some of the fibers of the Obturator externus, and lower down by the Adductor brevis.

[edit] Innervation

The Obturator nerve is responsible for the sensory innervation of the skin of the medial aspect of the thigh.

It is also responsible for the motor innervation of the adductor muscles of the lower extremity (external obturator, pectineus, adductor longus, adductor brevis, adductor magnus, gracilis).

[edit] Branches

[edit] Additional images

Sacral plexus of the right side.

Right hip bone. Internal surface.	Left Levator ani from within.	The Obturator externus.	The arteries of the pelvis.
Variations in origin and course of obturator artery.	The relations of the femoral and abdominal inguinal rings, seen from within the abdomen. Right side.	Plan of lumbar plexus.	The lumbar plexus and its branches.
Deep and superficial dissection of the lumbar plexus.	Dissection of side wall of pelvis showing sacral and pudendal plexuses.

[edit] External links

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.