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Causes
By Mayo Clinic staff
Meralgia paresthetica occurs when the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve — a nerve that supplies sensation to the surface of your upper thigh — becomes compressed, or "pinched." The lateral femoral cutaneous nerve is purely a sensory nerve and does not affect your ability to use your leg muscles.
In most people, this nerve passes through the groin to the upper thigh without trouble. But in meralgia paresthetica, the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve becomes trapped — often under the inguinal ligament, which runs along your groin from your abdomen to your upper thigh.
Common causes of this compression include any condition that increases pressure on the groin, including:
- Tight clothing
- Obesity
- Pregnancy
- Scar tissue near the inguinal ligament, due to injury or past surgery
- Walking, cycling or standing for long periods of time
Nerve injury, such as due to diabetes or seat belt injury following a motor vehicle accident, also can cause meralgia paresthetica.
- NINDS meralgia paresthetica information page. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/meralgia_paresthetica/meralgia_paresthetica.htm. Accessed Nov. 13, 2008.
- Burning thigh pain (meralgia paresthetica). American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=a00340. Accessed Nov. 13, 2008.
- Anderson BC, et al. Meralgia paresthetica (lateral femoral cutaneous nerve entrapment). http://www.uptodate.com/jhome/index.html. Accessed Nov. 13, 2008.
- Swanson, J. (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Dec. 3, 2008.
- Compressive Structural Disorders. In: Goetz CG. Textbook of Clinical Neurology. 3rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/114781964-3/786370418/1488/264.html#4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-3618-0..10029-3--s0310_1872. Accessed Dec. 8, 2008.
- Diseases of the Peripheral Nerves: Mononeuropathy, Mononeuropathy Multiplex, and Plexopathy. In: Ropper AH et al. Adams and Victor's Principles of Neurology. 8th ed. Boston, Mass.: The McGraw-Hill Companies; 2005. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=979659&searchStr=mononeuropathies. Accessed Dec. 8, 2008.
- Aminoff MJ et al. Nervous System Disorders: Peripheral Neuropathies. In: McPhee SJ et al. Current Medical Diagnosis & Treatment 2009. 48th ed. San Francisco, Calif.: The McGraw-Hill Companies; 2009. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=13195. Accessed Dec. 8, 2008.
