Anatomical hierarchy
General Anatomy > Nervous system > Peripheral nervous system > Spinal nerves > Sacral nerves and coccygeal nerve (S1-S5, C0) > Posterior rami; Dorsal rami > Anterior rami; Ventral rami > Sacral plexus > Posterior cutaneous nerve of thigh; Posterior femoral cutaneous nerve
Translations
The Posterior Femoral Cutaneous Nerve (n. cutaneus femoralis posterior; small sciatic nerve) is distributed to the skin of the perineum and posterior surface of the thigh and leg.
It arises partly from the dorsal divisions of the first and second, and from the ventral divisions of the second and third sacral nerves, and issues from the pelvis through the greater sciatic foramen below the Piriformis. It then descends beneath the Glutæus maximus with the inferior gluteal artery, and runs down the back of the thigh beneath the fascia lata, and over the long head of the Biceps femoris to the back of the knee; here it pierces the deep fascia and accompanies the small saphenous vein to about the middle of the back of the leg, its terminal twigs communicating with the sural nerve.
Its branches are all cutaneous, and are distributed to the gluteal region, the perineum, and the back of the thigh and leg