Variations in the Origin and Number of Medial Calcaneal Nerve

Abstract

Variations of nerve are of anatomical, embryological and clinical importance. There adequate knowledge will help in increasing surgical precision and decreasing morbidity. In present study, the variation in the origin and number of medial calcaneal nerve (MCN) was studied. The material for present study comprised of 60 lower extremities belonging to 30 adult human cadavers obtained from department of Anatomy, GMC Amritsar. In the present study, number of MCN is highly variable. 1 MCN innervated 35%, 2 MCN innervated 40%, 3 MCN innervated 15%, 4 MCN innervated 8.3%, 5 MCN innervated 1.67%. There were total 121 medial calcaneal nerves found in the present study. MCN originated from tibial nerve in 57 instances (47.10%), from bifurcation of tibial nerve in 30 (24.79%), from lateral plantar nerve in 32 (26.44%) and from medial plantar nerve in 2 instances (1.65%). Description of variation of origin of medial calcaneal nerve in medial aspect of calcaneus is required to establish an anatomical guide for diagnosis and therapy of some tarsal region diseases including tarsal tunnel syndrome, fixation of fracture with external nailing, medial displacement osteotomy and nerve block in podiatric medicine.