There are four areas of interest to the regional anesthesiologist and acute pain
physician in the anterior thigh. These include three nerves and their branches and one
specific area. These nerves are the femoral nerve with its seven branches, the obturator
nerve with its two branches, and the lateral cutaneous nerve of the thigh. The adductor
canal is the anatomical area of interest, as an adductor canal block, although much
debated and its true value questioned, has been popularized in recent years. These
nerves and their areas of sensory distributions and the adductor canal are discussed in
this chapter. A fourth nerve, the genitofemoral nerve, and more specifically, its femoral
branch, also features in this area and is discussed in this chapter.
Keywords: Acute pain medicine, Adductor canal, Adductor canal block,
Adductor muscles, Anterior thigh, Femoral nerve, Genitofemoral nerve., Lateral
cutaneous nerve of the thigh, Nerve to sartorius, Obturator nerve, Quadriceps
muscles, Rectus femoris, Regional anesthesiologist, Saphenous nerve, Sartorius
muscle, Subsartorial plexus, Subsartorial space, Vastus intermedius, Vastus
lateralis, Vastus medialis.
