Nerve · Knee

Infrapatellar branch of the saphenous nerve

Ramus infrapatellaris nervi sapheni

A small nerve that crosses the front of the knee sideways. It leaves the saphenous nerve as that nerve emerges from the adductor canal, pierces sartorius, and then fans out horizontally below the kneecap, joining twigs from the femoral nerve's other cutaneous branches to form the patellar plexus. It supplies the skin over the front of the knee — the part that meets the floor when you kneel. Because it runs transversely across the joint with nothing but skin above it, its territory is a band rather than a stripe, and it sits directly over bone for most of its length.