Gluteus Maximus: From the fifth lumbar and first and second sacral nerves through the inferior gluteal branch of the sacral plexus.
Obturator Externus: Second, third, and fourth lumbar nerves through the obturator nerve.
Posterior Thigh Muscles: Fourth and fifth lumbar and sacral nerves through the great sciatic.
Great Sciatic Nerve: This great nerve, direct continuation of the sacral plexus, arises from the fourth and fifth lumbar and first three or four sacral nerves and is widely distributed to muscles and integument of the lower extremity. Sciatica, or sciatic rheumatism, is most commonly relieved by adjustment of fourth or fifth lumbar vertebra; but there is a condition commonly diagnosed as sciatica which is really a sciatic neuritis and due to vasomotor disturbance affecting the blood-supply to the nerve trunk. This responds to adjustment of first or second lumbar because the amyelinic fibres which control these blood-vessels are derived from lumbar ganglia of the sympathetic.
Anterior Leg Muscles: Fourth and fifth lumbar and first sacral nerves through the anterior tibial.
Posterior Leg Region: Fourth and fifth lumbar and first and second sacral through the internal popliteal and posterior tibial.
Knee-Joint: This joint receives branches from the great sciatic through both internal and external popliteal, and from the femoral and obturator. It is therefore connected with the lower lumbar and sacrum and with the second lumbar. The latter connection seems oftenest involved in knee joint inflammations.
Foot: Fourth and fifth lumbar and sacral nerves through the great sciatic and its branches.
Sensor Areas of Lower Extremity: In general, any given cutaneous area receives sensor branches from the nerve which supplies the subjacent muscle area. For accurate diagnostic purposes a good chart of sensor distribution may be consulted.