Superior gluteal nerve
Nerve on the pelvis and leg
The superior gluteal nerve is a mixed (motor and sensory) nerve of the sacral plexus that originates in the pelvis. It provides motor innervation to the gluteus medius, gluteus minimus, tensor fasciae latae; it also has a cutaneous branch.
Structure
Origin
The superior gluteal nerve originates in the sacral plexus. It arises from the posterior divisions of L4, L5 and S1.
Course
It exits the pelvis through the greater sciatic foramen superior to the piriformis muscle. It is accompanied by the superior gluteal artery and the superior gluteal vein.
It passes lateral-ward in between the gluteus medius muscle and the gluteus minimus muscle, accompanied by the deep branch of the superior gluteal artery. It divides into a superior branch and an inferior branch.
The inferior branch continues to pass between the two muscles to end in the tensor fasciae latae muscle.
Distribution
Motor
tensor fasciae latae muscle
gluteus medius muscle (superior branch and inferior branch)
gluteus minimus muscle (inferior branch, sometimes superior branch as well)
piriformis muscle
Sensory
The superior gluteal nerve also has a cutaneous branch.
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This entry incorporates text from “Superior gluteal nerve” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.