human anatomy The human body is the structure of a human being. It is composed of many different types of cells that together create tissues and subsequently organ systems. They ensure homeostasis and the viability of the human body. It comprises a hea ...

, the accessory obturator nerve is an accessory

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 ...

in the

lumbar In tetrapod Tetrapods (; ) are four-limbed vertebrate animals constituting the superclass Tetrapoda (). It includes extant and extinct amphibians, sauropsids ( reptiles, including dinosaurs and therefore birds) and synapsids ( pelycosa ...

region present in about 29% of cases. It is of small size, and arises from the ventral divisions of the third and fourth lumbar nerves. Recent evidence support that this nerve arises from Dorsal divisions. It descends along the medial border of the

psoas major The psoas major ( or ; from grc, ψόᾱ, psóā, muscles of the loins) is a long fusiform muscle located in the lateral lumbar region between the vertebral column and the brim of the lesser pelvis. It joins the iliacus muscle to form the ilio ...

, crosses the superior ramus of the pubis, and passes under the

pectineus The pectineus muscle (, from the Latin word ''pecten'', meaning comb) is a flat, quadrangular muscle, situated at the anterior (front) part of the upper and medial (inner) aspect of the thigh. The pectineus muscle is the most anterior adductor ...

, where it divides into numerous branches. One of these supplies the pectineus, penetrating its deep surface, another is distributed to the

hip-joint In vertebrate anatomy, hip (or "coxa"Latin ''coxa'' was used by Celsus in the sense "hip", but by Pliny the Elder in the sense "hip bone" (Diab, p 77) in medical terminology) refers to either an anatomical region or a joint. The hip region is ...

; while a third communicates with the anterior branch of the

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

. Occasionally the accessory obturator nerve is very small and is lost in the capsule of the hip-joint. When it is absent, the hip-joint receives two branches from the obturator nerve.

References

External links

Diagram at nysora.com
{{Authority control Nerves of the lower limb and lower torso