Medical Animation

Pudendal nerve entrapment can lead to chronic, debilitating pain.  The complex course and anatomical variations of the pudendal nerve and its branches provide opportunities for injury and entrapment. Originating from the sacral plexus, the pudendal nerve leaves the pelvis through the greater sciatic notch and travels between the sacrospinous ligament and sacrotuberous ligament, into the ischiorectal fossa where it enters Alcock’s canal and exits anteriorly traveling through the pubic ramus canal as the dorsal nerve of the clitoris or the penis.  The rectal and perineal nerve branches arise at varying sites along this pathway.

This two minute animation was created to enable physicians surgeons, radiologists to better visualize the course of the pudendal nerve, its variations, and the zones of entrapment, thus aiding in better understanding of pudendal nerve anatomy and its role in chronic pelvic pain.