Chapter 2.1 – Cluneal nerve entrapment

Back mice may cause superior cluneal neuropathy by compressing or irritating the tinny nerves. These nerves are the peripheral nerves of the lumbar region, they cross the deep fascia at certain specific locations were they may be more susceptible to be compress.

→LINK to Dr Tim Tollestrup’s video about superior cluneal nerve entrapment and low back pain (//youtu.be/XisboO51Cb8)

superior cluneal nerve entrapment video

Link to his web page (//nevadanervesurgery.org/back-pain/low-back-pain-involving-superior-cluneal-nerve-compression/)

List of 37 references related to CLUNEAL (superior, medial, inferior) NERVE ENTRAPMENT or NEUROPATHY

  1. 1941 Livingston (from Oregon, USA): Back disabilities due to strain of the multifidus  muscle. Cases treated by novocaine injection (medial cluneal nerve).
  2. 1957 Strong EK, Davila JC. The cluneal nerve syndrome; a distinct type of low back pain. Ind Med Surg. 1957;26:417–429.
  3. 1967 Drury Clinical evaluation of back and leg pain due to irritation of the superior cluneal nerve. J Bone Joint Surg 1967;49A(1):199
  4. 1968 Drury (from Santa Barbara, California). Clinical evaluation of damage to the superior cluneal nerves. Am J Orthop Surg. 1968;10:102–106.
  5. 1976 Maigne JY, Doursounian L. Entrapment neuropathy of the medial superior cluneal nerve. Nineteen cases surgically treated, with a minimum of 2 years’ follow-up. Spine (Phila Pa 1976) 1997;22:1156–1159.
  6. 1977 Richter (From Basel, Switzerland):  Mechanische neuritis der rami dorsales und fettgewebehernien als ursache von akuten und chronischen ruckenschmerzen. (Mechanische neuritis= nerve entrapment) (fettgewebehernien= back mice).
  7. 1978 Massey EW. Cluneal neuropathy. Anesth Analg. 1978 May-Jun;57(3):381-2. PubMed PMID: 566063.
  8. 1989 Maigne JY, Lazareth JP, Guérin Surville H, Maigne R. The lateral cutaneous branches of the dorsal rami of the thoraco-lumbar junction. An anatomical study on 37 dissections. Surg Radiol Anat. 1989;11(4):289-93. PubMed PMID: 2533408.
  9. 1991 Maigne JY, Maigne R. Trigger point of the posterior iliac crest: painful iliolumbar ligament insertion or cutaneous dorsal ramus pain? An anatomic study. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 1991 Sep;72(10):734-7. PubMed PMID: 1834038.
  10. 1996 Berthelot JM, Delecrin J, Maugars Y, Caillon F, Prost A. A potentially underrecognized and treatable cause of chronic back pain: entrapment neuropathy of the cluneal nerves. J Rheumatol. 1996 Dec;23(12):2179-81. PubMed PMID: 8970063. Només hi ha un abstract. És un case report de la zona cresta…
  11. 1997 Maigne JY, Doursounian L. Entrapment neuropathy of the medial superior cluneal nerve. Nineteen cases surgically treated, with a minimum of 2 years’ follow-up. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 1997 May 15;22(10):1156-9. PubMed PMID: 9160476.
  12. 1998 Hammer, Warren. 1998. “Superior Cluneal Nerve Entrapment — An Overlooked Cause of Low Back Pain,”Dynamic Chiropractic, 16(10). FREE fUL ARTICLE a carpeta QUIROPRACTIC
  13. 1998 Lu J, Ebraheim NA, Huntoon M, et al. Anatomic considerations of superior cluneal nerve at posterior iliac crest region. Clin Orth & RelRes 1998;347:224-228.
  14. 2000 Talu GK, Ozyalçin S, Talu U. Superior cluneal nerve entrapment. Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2000 Nov-Dec;25(6):648-50. PubMed PMID: 11097676. Case report.
  15. 2002 Aly TA, Tanaka Y, Aizawa T, Ozawa H, Kokubun S. Medial superior cluneal nerve entrapment neuropathy in teenagers: a report of two cases. Tohoku J Exp Med. 2002 Aug;197(4):229-31. PubMed PMID: 12434998.
  16. 2005 Akbas M, Yegin A, Karsli B. Superior cluneal nerve entrapment eight years after decubitus surgery. Pain Pract. 2005;5:364–366.  [PubMed] TURC only abstract
  17. 2005 McGrath MC, Zhang M. Lateral branches of dorsal sacral nerve plexus and the long posterior sacroiliac ligament. Surg Radiol Anat. 2005;27:327–330.  [PubMed]
  18. 2010 Tubbs RS, Levin MR, Loukas M, Potts EA, Cohen-Gadol AA. Anatomy and landmarks for the superior and middle cluneal nerves: application to posterior iliac crest harvest and entrapment syndromes. J Neurosurg Spine. 2010;13:356–359. Mirar a pubmed
  19. 2011 Ermis MN, Yildirim D, Durakbasa MO, Tamam C, Ermis OE. Medial superior cluneal nerve entrapment neuropathy in military personnel; diagnosis and etiologic factors. J Back Musculoskelet Rehabil. 2011;24(3):137-44. doi: 10.3233/BMR-2011-0287. PubMed PMID: 21849727. Abstract copiat
  20. 2011 SPEED, S., SIMS, K., WEINRAUCH, P.. Entrapment of the Medial Branch of the Superior Cluneal Nerve – a Previously Unrecognized Cause of Lower Back Pain in Cricket Fast Bowlers. Journal of Medical Cases, North America, 2, apr. 2011.
  21. 2012 Pouliquen U, Riant T, Robert R, Labat JJ. [Cluneal inferior neuralgia by conflict around the ischium: Identification of a clinical entity from a series of anesthetic blocks in 72 patients]. Prog Urol. 2012 Dec;22(17):1051-7. doi: 10.1016/j.purol.2012.10.007. Epub 2012 Nov 15. French. PubMed PMID: 23182119.
  22. 2013 Kim K, Isu T, Chiba Y, Morimoto D, Ohtsubo S, Kusano M, Kobayashi S, Morita A. The usefulness of ICG video angiography in the surgical treatment of superior cluneal nerve entrapment neuropathy: technical note. J Neurosurg Spine. 2013 Nov;19(5):624-8. doi: 10.3171/2013.7.SPINE1374. Epub 2013 Sep 20. PubMed PMID: 24053371.
  23. 2013 Morimoto D, Isu T, Kim K, Imai T, Yamazaki K, Matsumoto R, Isobe M. Surgical treatment of superior cluneal nerve entrapment neuropathy. J Neurosurg Spine. 2013;19:71–75.  [PubMed]
  24. 2014 Kasper JM, Wadhwa V, Scott KM, Chhabra A. Clunealgia: CT-guided therapeutic posterior femoral cutaneous nerve block. Clin Imaging. 2014 Jul-Aug;38(4):540-2. doi: 10.1016/j.clinimag.2014.02.017. Epub 2014 Mar 6. PubMed PMID: 24667042. 
  25. 2014 Kuniya H, Aota Y, Kawai T, Kaneko K, Konno T, Saito T. Prospective study of superior cluneal nerve disorder as a potential cause of low back pain and leg symptoms. J Orthop Surg Res. 2014 Dec 31;9:139. doi: 10.1186/s13018-014-0139-7. PubMed PMID: 25551470; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4299373.
  26. 2015 Chiba Y, Isu T, Kim K, Iwamoto N, Morimoto D, Yamazaki K, Hokari M, Isobe M, Kusano M. Association between intermittent low-back pain and superior cluneal nerve entrapment neuropathy. J Neurosurg Spine. 2015 Oct 13:1-5. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 26460754.
  27. 2015 Kim K, Isu T, Chiba Y, Iwamoto N, Yamazaki K, Morimoto D, Isobe M, Inoue K. Treatment of low back pain in patients with vertebral compression fractures and superior cluneal nerve entrapment neuropathies. Surg Neurol Int. 2015 Nov 25;6(Suppl 24):S619-21. doi: 10.4103/2152-7806.170455. eCollection 2015. PubMed PMID: 26693392; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4671138.
  28. 2016 Aota Y. Entrapment of middle cluneal nerves as an unknown cause of low back pain. World J Orthop. 2016 Mar 18;7(3):167-70. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v7.i3.167. eCollection 2016 Mar 18. PubMed PMID: 27004164; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4794535.
  29. 2016 Bodner G, Platzgummer H, Meng S, Brugger PC, Gruber GM, Lieba-Samal D. Successful Identification and Assessment of the Superior Cluneal Nerves with High-Resolution Sonography. Pain Physician. 2016 Mar;19(3):197-202. PubMed PMID: 27008294. FREE FULL ARTICLE
  30. 2016 Iwamoto Low Back Pain Caused by Superior Cluneal Nerve Entrapment Neuropathy in Patients with Parkinson Disease Iwamoto, Naotaka et al. World Neurosurgery , Volume 87 , 250 – 254
  31. 2016 Morimoto D, Isu T, Kim K, Yamazaki K, Iwamoto N, Isobe M, Morita A. [Non-Specific Back Pain due to Superior Cluneal Nerve Entrapment Neuropathy Treated with Neurolysis: A Case Report]. No Shinkei Geka. 2016 Feb;44(2):155-60. doi: 10.11477/mf.1436203248. Japanese. PubMed PMID: 26856270.
  32. 2016 Chiba et al. (from Japan). Association between intermittent low-back pain and superior cluneal nerve entrapment neuropathy.  
  33. 2017 Kokubo R, Kim K, Isu T, Morimoto D, Iwamoto N, Kobayashi S, Morita A. Superior Cluneal Nerve Entrapment Neuropathy and Gluteus Medius Muscle Pain: Their Effect on Very Old Patients with Low Back Pain. World Neurosurg. 2017 Feb;98:132-139. doi: 10.1016/j.wneu.2016.10.096. Epub 2016 Oct 27. PubMed PMID: 27989968.
  34. 2017 Konno T, Aota Y, Saito T, Qu N, Hayashi S, Kawata S, Itoh M. Anatomical study of middle cluneal nerve entrapment. J Pain Res. 2017 Jun 13;10:1431-1435. doi: 10.2147/JPR.S135382. eCollection 2017. PubMed PMID: 28652809; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5476578.
  35. 2017 Morimoto D, Isu T, Kim K, Chiba Y, Iwamoto N, Isobe M, Morita A. Long-term Outcome of Surgical Treatment for Superior Cluneal Nerve Entrapment Neuropathy. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2017 May 15;42(10):783-788. doi: 10.1097/BRS.0000000000001913. PubMed PMID: 27669049.
  36. 2017 Ploteau S, Salaud C, Hamel A, Robert R. Entrapment of the posterior femoral cutaneous nerve and its inferior cluneal branches: anatomical basis of surgery for inferior cluneal neuralgia. Surg Radiol Anat. 2017 Feb 24. doi: 10.1007/s00276-017-1825-z. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 28236130.
  37. 2018 Yamauchi T, Kim K, Isu T, et al. Undiagnosed Peripheral Nerve Disease in Patients with Failed Lumbar Disc Surgery. Asian Spine Journal. 2018;12(4):720-725. doi:10.31616/asj.2018.12.4.720.
  38. 2020 Erdem et al. Superior cluneal nerve entrapment neuropathy due to lower crossed syndrome: A case with low back pain. doi: 10.14744/agri.2020.21703

Main studied articles about CLUNEAL (or LUMBAR DORSAL RAMI)  neuropathy

Chapter 2.1.A Superior cluneal nerves

cluneal syndrome

1957 Strong and Davila (From California, USA): The Cluneal Nerve Syndrome, a distinct type of low back pain. 

1968 Drury (from Santa Barbara, California). Clinical evaluation of damage to the superior cluneal nerves.

1977 Richter (From Basel, Switzerland):  Mechanische neuritis der rami dorsales (cluneal)  und fettgewebehernien als ursache von akuten und chronischen ruckenschmerzen. (Mechanische neuritis= nerve entrapment) (fettgewebehernien= back mice).

iliac trigger point1991 Maigne & Maigne (From France): Trigger point of the posterior Iliac crest: Painful iliolumbar ligament insertion or cutaneous drosal ramus (cluneal) pain (an anatomic study).

1996 Berthelot et al. (from Nantes, France): A potentially UNDERRECOGNIZED and treatable cause of chronic low back pain: entrapment neuropathy of the CLUNEAL nerves

2018 Yamauchi et al. (from Hokkaido, Japan): UNDIAGNOSED peripheral nerve disease in patients with failed lumbar disc surgery.

pseudo-sciatica

2017 Konno et al (from Yokohama, Japan) . Anatomical study of middle cluneal nerve entrapment.

Chapter 2.1.B Medial cluneal nerves

1941 Livingston (from Oregon, USA): Back disabilities due to strain of the multifidus  muscle. Cases treated by novocaine injection (medial cluneal nerve).