User:Navicular/Posterior tibial nerve

Though the nerve known as nervus tibialis in anatomical terminology is properly called the tibial nerve in English, its distal portion is commonly referred to as the posterior tibial nerve by many physicians. This usage troubles anatomists, since anatomical structures are not generally preceded by a positional descriptor unless there is another structure with a corresponding location (i.e. the anterior horn and the posterior horn of the spinal cord).

At one point however, what is now known as the deep peroneal nerve was called the anterior tibial nerve. This usage is present in the 1906 edition of Cunningham's Textbook of Anatomy. Cunningham describes the terminal branches of the (common) peroneal nerve as "recurrent tibial, anterior tibial, and musculo-cutaneous" and uses "posterior tibial nerve" as a synonym for the portion of the tibial nerve which is distal to the lower border of the popliteus muscle. Interstingly, Cunningham also provides the latin (TA) names for the the anterior tibial, posterior tibial, and musculo-cutaneous nerves which are peronaeus profundus, tibialis, and peronaeus superficialis, respectively.

Two possible explanations for why "anterior tibial" is not longer used, but "posterior tibial" remains are that the nerve's course is alongside that of the posterior tibial artery and that the nerve is located on the posterior aspect of the leg and ankle. The procedure involving the anesthetization of the tibial nerve is commonly called a posterior tibial nerve block.

See Main Article: Tibial nerve