If affected, it can be due to a mass lesion such as a ganglion or to trauma, which is the most common cause. Sometimes inflammatory or vasculitic diseases will selectively involve the sural nerve. In addition, the sural nerve will be involved in any kind of generalized peripheral sensory or sensorimotor neuropathy.
What is sural nerve neuropathy?
Summary. Sural neuritis (a.k.a. sural neuralgia) is pain that occurs due to irritation or injury of the sural nerve. The pain is typically described as a burning sensation located on the outside of the foot and ankle. It may occur following surgery of the foot and ankle or after a direct injury to the nerve itself.
What are symptoms of sural nerve damage?
Damage or compression of the sural nerve can result in burning pain and diminished sensation or loss of sensation (numbness). This nerve passes down from the back of the knee along the outside of the lower leg. It’s located along the surface of the lower one-third of the leg.
Can nerve entrapment cause neuropathy?
A nerve entrapment is caused when a peripheral nerve losses mobility, flexibility, or becomes compressed by surrounding tissues. A nerve entrapment can cause neuropathic / neurogenic pain that can be either acute or chronic in nature.
How is sural neuralgia treated?
Sural neuralgia is a relatively rare condition and often responds to conservative treatments such as rest, physical therapy, massage therapy, antiinflammatory medications, tricyclic antidepressants, serotonin and norepinephrine inhibitors, gabapentin, and calcium channel blockers.
How do you release sural nerves?
As the nerve is reasonably superficial and easy to access, sural nerve decompression can be accomplished under local anaesthesia, by a longitudinal section of the fascial tunnel, which releases the nerve from the surrounding fibrous tissue.
Where does sural nerve get entrapped?
Entrapment involving the sural nerve typically occurs at the musculotendinous junction of the gastrocnemius muscle and the Achilles tendon within the calf, as the nerve travels through a fibrous arcade (which has been termed the “superficial sural aponeurosis”) [8] (Fig. 71.9a), at the ankle (Fig.
How is sural nerve entrapment diagnosed?
The diagnosis of entrapment neuropathy of the SN is based on clinical examination. The symptomatology includes sensory alterations over the distribution area of the nerve, thus the postero-lateral side of the distal third of the leg, as well as the lateral aspect of the foot and fifth toe.
What is the most common entrapment neuropathy?
Carpal tunnel syndrome is the most common type of entrapment neuropathy. It involves compression of the median nerve, which runs through the arm and controls movement in the thumb and first three fingers (all but the pinky).
Does nerve entrapment show on MRI?
MR imaging may allow early recognition of suprascapular nerve entrapment, by detecting clinically unsuspected masses, as well as indirect signs of nerve denervation in suprascapular nerve syndrome [7, 8].
How long does it take for sural nerve to heal?
If your nerve is bruised or traumatized but is not cut, it should recover over 6-12 weeks. A nerve that is cut will grow at 1mm per day, after about a 4 week period of ‘rest’ following your injury. Some people notice continued improvement over many months.
How do you stop sural nerves?
If the smaller superficial nerves (sural, saphenous and superficial peroneal) are not seen, these nerves can be blocked simply by injecting local anesthetic into the subcutaneous tissue as a “skin wheal”; for the sural nerve, inject from the Achilles tendon to the lateral malleolus; for the superficial peroneal and the …
What causes entrapment of the sural nerve?
Entrapment of the nerve could be caused by compression due to fascial thickening, while the symptomatology includes sensory alterations and deficits at the nerve distribution area. We report a cadaveric case of a variant sural nerve that presented a distinct entrapment site.
What is the best treatment for sural nerve neuropathy?
Surgical release has been claimed to be the best possible treatment for sural nerve neuropathy that is due to compression or entrapment of the sural nerve. Sural nerve neuropathy that is connected with problems with the ankle may also require some physiotherapy, reconstruction, or bracing.
What are the different types of entrapment neuropathies?
Common entrapment neuropathies in the knee, leg, ankle, and foot include those of the common peroneal nerve, deep peroneal nerve, superficial peroneal nerve, tibial nerve and its branches, and sural nerve. After reading this article and taking the test, the reader will be able to: •.
Can sural nerve entrapment in the ankle be treated?
Sural Nerve Entrapment Explained. However, if damage does occur, it can be treated by removing part of the nerve. Of course, removal of a portion of the nerve can result in numbness in the ankle and side of the foot- but the nearby nerves will grow in to compensate, which restores most of the feeling to the area.
