The posterior cutaneous nerve of forearm is a

nerve A nerve is an enclosed, cable-like bundle of nerve fibers (called axons) in the peripheral nervous system. A nerve transmits electrical impulses. It is the basic unit of the peripheral nervous system. A nerve provides a common pathway for the e ...

found in humans and other animals. It is also known as the dorsal antebrachial cutaneous nerve, the external cutaneous branch of the musculospiral nerve, and the posterior antebrachial cutaneous nerve. It is a

cutaneous nerve A cutaneous nerve is a nerve that provides nerve supply to the skin. Human anatomy In human anatomy, cutaneous nerves are primarily responsible for providing sensory innervation to the skin. In addition to sympathetic and autonomic afferent (sens ...

(a nerve that supplies skin) of the

forearm The forearm is the region of the upper limb between the elbow and the wrist. The term forearm is used in anatomy to distinguish it from the arm, a word which is most often used to describe the entire appendage of the upper limb, but which in anat ...

Origin

It arises from the

radial nerve The radial nerve is a nerve in the human body that supplies the posterior portion of the upper limb. It innervates the medial and lateral heads of the triceps brachii muscle of the arm, as well as all 12 muscles in the posterior osteofascial comp ...

in the posterior compartment of the arm, often along with the posterior cutaneous nerve of the arm.

Course

It perforates the lateral head of the

triceps brachii The triceps, or triceps brachii (Latin for "three-headed muscle of the arm"), is a large muscle on the back of the upper limb of many vertebrates Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () ( chordates with ba ...

muscle at the triceps' attachment to the

humerus The humerus (; ) is a long bone in the arm that runs from the shoulder to the elbow. It connects the scapula and the two bones of the lower arm, the radius and ulna, and consists of three sections. The humeral upper extremity consists of a roun ...

. The upper and smaller branch of the nerve passes to the front of the

elbow The elbow is the region between the arm and the forearm that surrounds the elbow joint. The elbow includes prominent landmarks such as the olecranon, the cubital fossa (also called the chelidon, or the elbow pit), and the lateral and the media ...

, lying close to the

cephalic vein In human anatomy, the cephalic vein is a superficial vein in the arm. It originates from the radial end of the dorsal venous network of hand, and ascends along the radial (lateral) side of the arm before emptying into the axillary vein. At the ...

, and supplies the skin of the lower half of the arm. The lower branch pierces the

deep fascia Deep fascia (or investing fascia) is a fascia, a layer of dense connective tissue that can surround individual muscles and groups of muscles to separate into fascial compartments. This fibrous connective tissue interpenetrates and surrounds the m ...

below the insertion of the

Deltoideus The deltoid muscle is the muscle forming the rounded contour of the human shoulder. It is also known as the 'common shoulder muscle', particularly in other animals such as the domestic cat. Anatomically, the deltoid muscle appears to be made up o ...

, and descends along the lateral side of the arm and elbow, and then along the back of the forearm to the wrist, supplying the skin in its course, and joining, near its termination, with the dorsal branch of the lateral antebrachial cutaneous nerve.

Additional images

File:Gray413_color.png, Cross-section through the middle of upper arm. File:Gray811and813.PNG, Cutaneous nerves of right upper extremity.

References

External links

* Nerves of the upper limb {{Neuroanatomy-stub

Origin

Course

See also

Additional images

References

External links