Palpation of the Nerves

The word nerve comes from the ancient Greek language and translated into German means “cord” or “thread”. If all these “threads” are strung together in the body, the result is a distance of about 5.8 million kilometres, which would lead 145 times around the earth’s equator (Markert et al., Umweltwissenschaften und Schadstoff-Forschung 21:483–486, 2009). In terms of diameter, this network includes both thicker and thinner nerves. The thicker, palpable nerve structures are presented in this chapter, and the exact procedure for palpation is described. An exact knowledge of the anatomical position is elementary to find the guitar-like “cords” with the fingertips and to be able to distinguish them from the surrounding tissues. The anatomical illustrations support the finding of the respective structure. Practical instructional videos complement the flow text.