Question

What are the symptoms of popliteal nerve damage?

Answer 1

The symptoms of popliteal nerve damage are calf pain, numbness, cramping, tingling and weakness in your lower leg or foot.

Popliteal nerve damage is often related to peroneal nerve injuries or artery entrapment.

Common signs of popliteal nerve damage are difficulty lifting your foot or foot drop, walking with a high stepping gait and color and or discolored feet or toes.

The pain and cramping with popliteal nerve damage can be aching or severe cramping in your calf during activity, which often improves after a couple of minutes of rest.

Numbness, burning or pins and needles feelings in the lower leg and foot and motor weakness/foot drop like difficulty in lifting the front of your foot or pointing your toes upward (dorsiflexion), which often results in dragging your foot or a steppage gait and even vascular changes, like swelling, coldness and discoloration like pale or blue of your foot and toes, most particularly after exercise.

Rapid tiredness in the leg during exertion can also occur when you have popliteal nerve damage.

The popliteal fossa is the diamond shaped depression or hollow that is located behind your knee joint.

The popliteal fossa acts as a crucial transitional area for nerves and vessels passing between your thigh and leg and it becomes more prominent when your knee is flexed.

Synonyms of popliteal fossa are hough or knee pit.

The nerve that runs in the popliteal fossa is the tibial nerve and the common fibular peroneal nerve.

The tibial nerve and the common fibular peroneal nerve are the terminal branches of the sciatic nerve and they run superficially and laterally to the popliteal vessels.

The tibial nerve is the larger, medial branch, and the common fibular nerve runs laterally.

The sciatic nerve also usually bifurcates into the tibial and common fibular nerves at the superior angle of the popliteal fossa or higher.

The tibial nerve runs vertically through the center of the fossa, and passes deep to the gastrocnemius muscles.

It also supplies motor branches to the gastrocnemius, soleus, plantaris, and the popliteus muscles and also gives rise to the medial sural cutaneous nerve.

The common fibular nerve follows the medial border of the biceps femoris muscle and descends laterally to exit the fossa and wrap around the neck of the fibula.

Branches from the tibial and common fibular nerves also contribute to forming the sural nerve, which provides sensory innervation to the posterolateral lower leg.

And the popliteal fossa is also a major target for nerve blocks.

A popliteal nerve block can also be used to block the entire lower leg.

The tibial and common fibular nerves are the most superficial of the contents of the popliteal fossa.

The tibial and common fibular nerves are both branches of the sciatic nerve.

The common fibular nerve follows the biceps femoris tendon, traveling along the lateral margin of the popliteal fossa.

Popliteus pain feels like a deep ache or sharp pain at the outer back of the knee, often worsening with activities that involve knee rotation (like running downhill or pivoting) or when bending/straightening the knee against resistance.

You might also feel tenderness, tightness, or stiffness in that area, sometimes with a crackling sound (crepitus) or swelling, and experience weakness or balance issues.