Anatomical background | Sciatic nerve pinched – What to do?

Anatomical background

The colloquially called “sciatic nerve“, the ischiadic nerve (ischial nerve; hip nerve) is a so-called peripheral nerve. This means that it belongs to those nerves that lie outside the brain. It is assigned to a nerve plexus (plexus lumbosacralis) located at the level of the lumbar spine and is the thickest nerve in the entire body.

The sciatic nerve emerges from the spinal canal between the 4th lumbar and 3rd sacral vertebrae and moves from there towards the legs. In the area of the hip it runs through a structure with holes and from there it reaches the extensor side of the hip joint. Subsequently, the sciatic nerve can be found on the back of the thigh until it splits into the main nerves of the lower leg (nervus fibularis communis and nervus tibialis) at the level of the hollow of the knee. In addition to some sensitive nerve fibers, it also sends out parts for motor innervation of many thigh muscles. These muscles include:

  • The Musculi gemelli
  • The quadriceps femoris muscle
  • The Musculus obturatorius internus
  • The biceps femoris muscle
  • The Musculus semitendinosus and finally
  • The semimembranosus muscle.

All articles in this series:

  1. Sciatic nerve pinched – What to do?
  2. Is that a lumbago?
  3. Kinesio-tapen
  4. Anatomical background