Superficial radial nerve

The sensory branch of the radial nerve that runs under the skin of the forearm to supply feeling over the back of the thumb and the web space. Its branches often cross the first extensor compartment, so they are protected during surgery there; handling them can cause temporary tingling, and injury can leave numbness or a painful neuroma.

Related terms

• Treatment

  Thumb joint replacement

  Replacement of the worn thumb-base joint with a small ball-and-socket implant, keeping the thumb at its full length. Compared with trapeziectomy in randomised trials it gives similar pain relief and hand-function scores, faster recovery and a stronger pinch, with a risk of implant loosening, dislocation or wear; ten-year results for modern dual-mobility designs are not yet available.

• Anatomy

  First extensor compartment

  The fibro-osseous tunnel over the radial styloid through which the abductor pollicis longus and extensor pollicis brevis tendons pass under the extensor retinaculum. A septum divides it fully or partly in many wrists, more often in people with De Quervain's tenosynovitis, and the abductor pollicis longus often has several slips — both relevant to injection and to surgical release.

• Condition

  De Quervain's tenosynovitis

  Painful thickening of the first extensor compartment at the wrist, so that the abductor pollicis longus and extensor pollicis brevis tendons no longer glide freely. It causes pain over the thumb side of the wrist on gripping and pinching, is commoner in women, after 40 and around pregnancy, and is treated with a splint, a steroid injection or, if these fail, surgical release.

Articles mentioning this term

1. Patient information · 2 October 2026

   De Quervain's tenosynovitis

   Pain on the thumb side of the wrist: how De Quervain's tenosynovitis is diagnosed, what splints and steroid injections do, and what surgery involves.

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