Nerve · Foot

Proper plantar digital nerves

Nervi digitales plantares proprii

The final nerves of the toes, running along the sides of each digit with the plantar digital arteries and ending in the pulp beneath the tip. Like their counterparts in the fingers, they send branches over the end of each toe to supply the nail bed from the sole side. What makes them different is where they lie: in the sole they run within the fibrous chambers of the plantar fat pad, held away from the ground by tough septa that tether skin to bone. Sensation from the toes is therefore delivered from inside a shock absorber: the same tissue that spreads load across the forefoot also encloses the nerves running through it.