Anatomy Atlases: Illustrated Encyclopedia of Human Anatomic Variation: Opus III: Nervous System: Plexuses: Lumbosacral Plexus

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Illustrated Encyclopedia of Human Anatomic Variation: Opus III: Nervous System: Plexuses

Lumbosacral Plexus

Ronald A. Bergman, PhD
Adel K. Afifi, MD, MS
Ryosuke Miyauchi, MD
Peer Review Status: Internally Peer Reviewed

The lumbosacral plexus is formed by the union of the anterior primary divisions of the lumbar, sacral, and coccygeal nerves. In about 50% of cases it receives a branch from the twelfth thoracic nerve. Its components are distributed to the lower extremity in a manner homologous and similar to the distribution of the parts of the brachial plexus to the upper limb. The lumbar nerves are distributed similarly to the nerves from the anterior (medial and lateral) cords of the brachial plexus, and the sacral nerves are distributed similarily to the nerves from the posterior cord of the brachial plexus.

Partly for convenience of description and partly because of the differences in position and course of some of the nerves arising from it, the lumbosacral plexus is subdivided into four parts: the lumbar, sacral, pudendal, and coccygeal plexuses. It must be remembered that these plexuses overlap and that there is no definite line of demarcation between their origins and distributions.

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References

Anson, B.J., Ed. (1966) Morris' Human Anatomy, 12th ed., The Blakiston Division, McGraw-Hill book Company, New York.

Bardeen, C.R. (1901-02) A statistical study of the abdominal and border nerves in man. Am. J. Anat. 1:203-228.

Bergman, R.A., Thompson, S.A., Afifi, A.K. and F.A. Saadeh. (1988) Compendium of Human Anatomic Variation., Urban & Schwarzenberg, Munich and Baltimore.

Eisler, P. (1892) Der Plexus lumbosacralis des Menschen. Halle.

Henle, J. (1868) Handbuch der Systematischen Anatomie des Menschen. von Friedrich Vieweg und Sohn, Braunschweig.

Horwitz, M.T. (1939) The anatomy of (A) the lumbocacral nerve plexus - its relation to variations of vertebral segmentation, and (B) the posterior sacral nerve plexus. Anat. Rec. 74:91-107.

Jamieson, E.B. (1903) Some anomalies in nerves arising from the lumbar plexus, and a bilaminar musculus pectineous in a foetus; and on variations in the nerve supply in man and in some other mammals. J. Anat. Physiol. 37:266-286.

Latarjet, A. (1948) Testut's Traité d'Anatomie Humain, 11th ed., G. Doin & Cie., Paris.

Matwejew, W.P. (1937) Zur Typenanatomie des Plexus lumbosacralis. Anat. Anz. 83:422-436.

Schaefer, E.A., Symington, J. and T.H. Bryce., Eds (1915) Quain's Anatomy, 11th ed., Longmans, Green, and Co., London.

Sherrington, C.S. (1892) Notes on the arrangement of some motor nerve fibers in the lumbosacral plexus. J. Physiol. 13:621-772.

Urbanowicz, Z. (1981) Connections between the lumbar and sacral plexus in man. Folia Morphol. (Warsaw) 40:271-279.

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