Quick Facts
Origin: Common fibular nerve (L4/L5—S2).
Course: Enters anterior compartment of the leg and descends deep to the extensor digitorum muscle, on the anterior surface of the interosseus membrane.
Branches: Muscular branches and dorsal digital nerves of foot.
Supply: Motor innervation to muscles in the anterior compartment of the leg and dorsum of the foot; Sensory cutaneous innervation to the inferior tibiofibular joint and the dorsal surfaces of the adjacent aspects of the great and second toes.
Related parts of the anatomy
Origin
The common fibular nerve winds around the neck of the fibula and enters the lateral compartment of the leg by passing between the two heads of the fibularis longus muscle. Here it splits into deep and superficial fibular nerves.
Course
Following its origin in the lateral compartment, the deep fibular nerve enters the anterior compartment of the leg by passing through the intermuscular septum. It passes deep to the extensor digitorum muscle and descends on the anterior surface of the interosseus membrane, accompanied by the anterior tibial artery.
Branches
The common fibular nerve gives rise to muscular branches and the dorsal digital nerves.
Supplied Structures
The deep fibular nerve innervates the extensor muscles of the leg (tibialis anterior, extensor digitorum longus, extensor hallucis longus, fibularis tertius) and muscles of the dorsum of the foot (extensor digitorum brevis, first two dorsal interossei muscles). It also provides sensory innervation to the inferior tibiofibular joint and to the skin of the adjacent aspects of the great and second toes.
List of Clinical Correlates
—Foot drop
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Deep Fibular Nerve
The deep fibular nerve begins in the lateral compartment deep to the fibularis longus as one of the two divisions of the common fibular nerve, which was previously called the deep peroneal nerve.
