Nerve · Lower leg

Superficial peroneal nerve

Nervus fibularis superficialis

The superficial peroneal nerve runs down the outer side of the leg in the compartment it supplies, driving the two peroneal muscles that turn the sole outward and stabilise the ankle against rolling over. Lower down it becomes purely a skin nerve, piercing the fascia partway down the shin and fanning out across most of the top of the foot. Where it pops through the fascia it can be tethered or compressed, giving numbness and burning over the dorsum of the foot with no weakness — and it is often the nerve responsible when numbness lingers over the top of the foot after a bad ankle sprain.