The digital nerves run alongside the digital arteries along each side of each finger, providing sensation to the palmar finger skin and critically the fingertip. Their small size makes repair technically challenging after sharp division injuries. The numbness, burning, and hypersensitivity of injured digital nerves significantly impairs fine motor activities and quality of life because fingertip sensation is essential for dexterous manipulation.
| Origin | Common digital nerves from the median nerve (radial 3.5 fingers) and ulnar nerve (ulnar 1.5 fingers) dividing at the MCP level |
|---|---|
| Course | Run along the radial and ulnar sides of each finger in the fibro-fatty tissue between the flexor tendon sheath and the skin |
| Sensory |
|
Digital nerve lacerations from glass cuts, knife injuries, and power tool injuries require microsurgical repair to restore protective and discriminative fingertip sensation. Two-point discrimination testing (normally 2 to 5 mm at the fingertip) assesses repair quality at follow-up. Digital nerve neuromata from incomplete repair or nerve compression produce chronic hypersensitive finger pain managed with desensitisation, steroid injection, and sometimes surgical revision.
Sharp division requiring microsurgical epineural repair to restore two-point discrimination and protective sensation to the fingertip.
Post-traumatic neuroma producing chronic hypersensitive finger pain from incomplete nerve healing managed with desensitisation and surgical neuroma excision.
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