- Thoraco-abdominal nerves
Infobox Nerve
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Caption = Diagram of the course and branches of a typical intercostal nerve.
Caption2 = Intercostal nerves, the superficial muscles having been removed.
Innervates =Rectus abdominis muscle
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The anterior divisions of the seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh thoracicintercostal nerves are continued anteriorly from the intercostal spaces into the abdominal wall; hence they are named thoraco-abdominal nerves (or thoracicoabdominal intercostal nerves).They have the same arrangement as the upper ones as far as the anterior ends of the intercostal spaces, where they pass behind the costal cartilages, and between the
Obliquus internus andTransversus abdominis , to the sheath of theRectus abdominis , which they perforate.They supply the Rectus abdominis and end as the anterior cutaneous branches of the
abdomen ; they supply the skin of the front of the abdomen.The lower intercostal nerves supply the
Intercostales and abdominal muscles; the last three send branches to theSerratus posterior inferior . About the middle of their course they give off lateral cutaneous branches.These pierce the
Intercostales externi and theObliquus externus abdominis , in the same line as the lateral cutaneous branches of the upper thoracic nerves, and divide into anterior and posterior branches, which are distributed to the skin of the abdomen and back; the anterior branches supply the digitations of the Obliquus externus abdominis, and extend downward and forward nearly as far as the margin of the Rectus abdominis; the posterior branches pass backward to supply the skin over theLatissimus dorsi .External links
* - "Anterior Abdominal Wall: Thoracoabdominal Nerves"
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** anterior cutaneous branch
** SUNYAnatomyImage|7|2|67
** SUNYAnatomyImage|7|5|02* lateral cutaneous branch
** SUNYAnatomyImage|7|0|44
** SUNYAnatomyImage|7|4|19
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