Nerve to obturator internus

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Nerve: Nerve to obturator internus
Plan of sacral plexus and pudendal plexus. (Nerve to the Obturator internus and Gemellus superior labeled at lower left.)
Nerves of the right lower extremity Posterior view. (Nerve to the Obturator internus labeled at upper left.)
Latin nervus musculi obturatorii interni
Gray's subject #213 957
From sacral plexus
Dorlands/Elsevier n_05/12566195

The nerve to obturator internus is a nerve that innervates the obturator internus and gemellus superior muscles.

[edit] Course

The nerve to obturator internus originates in the sacral plexus. It arises from the ventral divisions of the fifth lumbar and first and second sacral nerves.

It leaves the pelvis through the greater sciatic foramen below the piriformis muscle, and gives off the branch to the gemellus superior, which enters the upper part of the posterior surface of the muscle.

It then crosses the ischial spine, reënters the pelvis through the lesser sciatic foramen, and pierces the pelvic surface of the obturator internus.

[edit] See also

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 As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated.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.

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Lumbosacral plexus

lumbar plexus: iliohypogastric - ilioinguinal - genitofemoral (femoral branch/lumboinguinal, genital branch) - lateral cutaneous of thigh (patellar) - obturator (accessory obturator) - femoral (saphenous) - lumbosacral trunk

sacral/coccygeal plexus: to quadratus femoris - to obturator internus - to the piriformis - superior gluteal - inferior gluteal - posterior cutaneous of thigh
sciatic: tibial (sural - medial plantar - lateral plantar) - common fibular (deep fibular - superficial fibular)

pudendal plexus: perforating cutaneous - pudendal (dorsal of the penis/clitoris, inferior anal, perineal and posterior scrotal/labial) - anococcygeal