Course and relations It passes behind the
cephalic vein and divides opposite the
elbow-joint into a volar branch and a
dorsal branch.
Branches Volar branch The volar branch (ramus volaris; anterior branch) descends along the radial border of the
forearm to the wrist, and supplies the skin over the lateral half of its volar surface. At the wrist-joint it is placed in front of the
radial artery, and some filaments, piercing the deep fascia, accompany that vessel to the dorsal surface of the
carpus. The nerve then passes downward to the ball of the
thumb, where it ends in cutaneous filaments. It communicates with the superficial branch of the
radial nerve, and with the palmar cutaneous branch of the
median nerve.
Dorsal branch The dorsal branch (ramus dorsalis; posterior branch) descends, along the dorsal surface of the radial side of the forearm to the
wrist. It supplies the skin of the lower two-thirds of the dorso-lateral surface of the forearm, communicating with the superficial branch of the radial nerve and the
posterior cutaneous nerve of forearm of the radial nerve. ==See also==