Nerve: Axillary nerve
Brachial plexus. (Axillary nerve is visible in gray near center.)
The suprascapular, axillary, and radial nerves. (Axillary labeled at upper right.)
Latin	nervus axillaris
Gray's	subject #210 934
Innervates	deltoid, teres minor, axilla
From	posterior cord (C5, C6)
Dorlands/Elsevier	n_05/12565259

The axillary nerve is a nerve of the human body, that comes off the posterior cord of the brachial plexus at the level of the axilla (armpit) and carries nerve fibers from C5 and C6. The axillary nerve travels through the quadrangular space with the posterior circumflex humeral artery and vein. Image File history File links Brachial_plexus. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (374x800, 73 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Rotator cuff Radial nerve Axillary nerve Wikipedia:Grays Anatomy images with missing articles 17 Deltoid muscle Teres... The Nervus suprascapularis (Suprascapular nerve) is a nerve of the plexus brachialis. ... The radial nerve is a nerve in the human body, that supplies the arm, the forearm and the hand. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Deltoid can refer to: The deltoid muscle, a muscle in the shoulder A deltoid curve, a three-sided hypocycloid A type of quadrilateral A leaf shape The deltoid tuberosity, a part of the humerus Delta, an article with related definitions. ... The teres minor muscle is a muscle in the rotator cuff. ... The armpit (or axilla) is the area on the human body directly under the area where the arm connects to the shoulder. ... The Posterior cord is a division of the brachial plexus. ... Elseviers logo. ... Nerves (yellow) Nerves redirects here. ... The Posterior cord is a division of the brachial plexus. ... The brachial plexus is an arrangement of nerve fibres (a plexus) running from the spine (vertebrae C5-T1), through the neck, the axilla (armpit region), and into the arm. ... The armpit (or axilla) is the area on the human body directly under the area where the arm connects to the shoulder. ... The quadrangular space is a location in the arm which is bounded by the Subscapularis and Teres minor above, the Teres major below, the long head of the Triceps brachii medially, and the surgical neck of the humerus laterally. ... The posterior humeral circumflex artery (posterior circumflex artery, posterior circumflex humeral artery) arises from the axillary artery at the lower border of the Subscapularis, and runs backward with the axillary nerve through the quadrangular space bounded by the Subscapularis and Teres minor above, the Teres major below, the long head...

Muscular and sensory innervation

It supplies two muscles, deltoid (a muscle of the shoulder), and teres minor (one of the rotator cuff muscles). A top-down view of skeletal muscle Muscle (from Latin musculus little mouse [1]) is contractile tissue of the body and is derived from the mesodermal layer of embryonic germ cells. ... Deltoid can refer to: The deltoid muscle, a muscle in the shoulder A deltoid curve, a three-sided hypocycloid A type of quadrilateral A leaf shape The deltoid tuberosity, a part of the humerus Delta, an article with related definitions. ... The teres minor muscle is a muscle in the rotator cuff. ... The rotator cuff is an anatomical term given to the group of muscles and their tendons that act to stabilize the shoulder. ...

The axillary nerve also carries sensory information from the shoulder joint, as well as the skin covering the inferior region of the deltoid muscle (which is innervated by the Superior Lateral Cutaneous Nerve branch of the Axillary nerve). This article does not cite its references or sources. ... The posterior branch of the axillary nerve pierces the deep fascia and is continued as the lateral brachial cutaneous nerve (or lateral cutaneous nerve of arm), which sweeps around the posterior border of the Deltoideus and supplies the skin over the lower two-thirds of the posterior part of this...

When the axillary nerve splits off from the posterior cord, the continuation of the cord is the radial nerve. The radial nerve is a nerve in the human body, that supplies the arm, the forearm and the hand. ...

Branches

It lies at first behind the axillary artery, and in front of the Subscapularis, and passes downward to the lower border of that muscle. In human anatomy, the axillary artery is a large blood vessel that conveys oxygenated blood to the lateral aspect of the thorax, the axilla (armpit) and the upper limb. ... The Subscapularis muscle is a muscle of the human body. ...

It then winds backward, in company with the posterior humeral circumflex artery, through a quadrilateral space bounded above by the Subscapularis, below by the Teres major, medially by the long head of the Triceps brachii, and laterally by the surgical neck of the humerus, and divides into an anterior and a posterior branch. Teres major is a muscle of the upper limb and one of six scapulohumeral muscles. ... Triceps brachii The triceps brachii muscle is a large three-headed skeletal muscle found in humans. ... The surgical neck of the humerus is a constriction below the tubercles of the greater tubercle and lesser tubercle. ...

• The anterior branch (upper branch) winds around the surgical neck of the humerus, beneath the Deltoideus, with the posterior humeral circumflex vessels, as far as the anterior border of that muscle, supplying it, and giving off a few small cutaneous branches, which pierce the muscle and ramify in the skin covering its lower part.

• The posterior branch (lower branch) supplies the Teres minor and the posterior part of the Deltoideus; upon the branch to the Teres minor an oval enlargement (pseudoganglion) usually exists. The posterior branch then pierces the deep fascia and is continued as the lateral brachial cutaneous nerve, which sweeps around the posterior border of the Deltoideus and supplies the skin over the lower two-thirds of the posterior part of this muscle, as well as that covering the long head of the Triceps brachii.

The trunk of the axillary nerve gives off an articular filament which enters the shoulder-joint below the Subscapularis. The surgical neck of the humerus is a constriction below the tubercles of the greater tubercle and lesser tubercle. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

Injury

The axillary nerve may be injured in anterior dislocations of the shoulder joint, compression of the axilla with a crutch or fracture of the surgical neck of the humerus. Injury to the nerve results in: -

1. Paralysis of the teres minor and deltoid muscles. Abduction of the shoulder is impaired.

2. Loss of sensation over a small part of the lateral upper arm

Additional images

Brachial plexus Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...	Suprascapular and axillary nerves of right side, seen from behind. Image File history File links Gray810. ...	Cutaneous nerves of right upper extremity. Anterior view. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (326x900, 44 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Median nerve Axillary nerve Ulnar nerve Wikipedia:Grays Anatomy images with missing articles 17 Musculocutaneous nerve List...	Diagram of segmental distribution of the cutaneous nerves of the right upper extremity. Anterior view. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Cutaneous nerves of right upper extremity. Posterior view. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (283x900, 165 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Radial nerve Brachial plexus Axillary nerve Ulnar nerve Wikipedia:Grays Anatomy images with missing articles 17 List...	Diagram of segmental distribution of the cutaneous nerves of the right upper extremity. Posterior view. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (345x800, 99 KB) See also: Anterior view. ...	Back of right upper extremity, showing surface markings for bones and nerves. Image File history File links Gray1236. ...

External links

• Duke Orthopedics axillary_nerve
• Axillary+nerve at eMedicine Dictionary

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant. Duke University is a private coeducational research university located in Durham, North Carolina, USA. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. ... eMedicine is an online clinical medical knowledge base that was founded in 1996. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... An illustration from the 1918 edition Henry Grays Anatomy of the Human Body (or Grays Anatomy as it has more commonly become known) is an anatomy textbook widely regarded as a classic work on human anatomy. ...