There are five areas of interest to the regional anesthesiologist and acute pain
physician concerning where the sciatic nerve can be approached. These include the
parasacral, the transgluteal, the subgluteal, the mid-femoral, and the popliteal areas.
These areas and the relationships of the sciatic nerve to other structures in those specific
areas, as well as the areas of sensory distributions of the sciatic nerve and its branches
are discussed in this chapter. Other nerves, not part of the sciatic nerve but originating
from the sacral plexus, such as the posterior cutaneous nerve of the thigh and the
pudendal nerve, are also discussed in this chapter.
Keywords: Acute pain medicine, Common fibular nerve, Common peroneal
nerve, Gluteus maximus muscle, Gluteus medius muscle, Gluteus minimus
muscle, Mid-femoral approach, Parasacral approach, Popliteal approach, Posterior
cutaneous nerve of the thigh, Pudendal nerve, Quadratus femoris muscle,
Regional anesthesia, Sacral plexus, Sciatic nerve, Sonoanatomy, Subgluteal
approach, Sural nerve, Tibial nerve.
