ABSTRACT
Background: Though the supply to the human brachialis muscle by radial nerve has been investigated by manyauthors in past, but there is no consistency in these reports. The aim of the present study was to record theanatomical variations in radial nerve supply to the brachialis muscle.Materials and Methods: The material of the study consisted of 62 superior extremities obtained from dissectionlaboratory of department of anatomy, Medical College Baroda (Gujarat). All these extremities belonged to adultcadavers of known sex.Human brachialis muscle was identified with its proximal and distal attachment. The radial nerve branchinnervating to brachialis was identified and parameters like presence or absence of radial nerve branchinnervating to brachialis; number of branches; its length; site of emergence and its distance from lateral epicondyleand site of entry into brachialis were noted.Result: Brachialis muscle was innervated by a branch from radial nerve in 87.09% of cases. Varying number ofradial nerve branches (1 to 3) innervated the brachialis muscle. Most of these branches (91.93%) entered thelower one third of the muscle. The average length of these muscular branches was 9.17mm. The average distancefrom the site of emergence to the lateral epicondyle of humerus was 6.54 cm.Conclusion: Significant variations in supply of brachialis muscle were recorded. These variations are of clinicalimportance for surgeons, orthopaedicians and anaesthetists.