In a patient with a common fibular nerve injury leading to foot drop, what type of sensory loss is expected?

• A. Loss of sensation from the posterior leg
• B. Dec or absent sensation from the anterolateral aspect of the leg
• C. Dec or absent sensation from the medial aspect of the leg
• D. Normal sensation across the foot and ankle

Answer: (B)

In a common fibular nerve injury, sensory loss is typically observed in the anterolateral aspect of the leg and the dorsum of the foot. This is because the common fibular nerve branches into the superficial and deep fibular nerves, which innervate these areas. The superficial branch provides sensation to the lateral aspect of the leg and the dorsum of the foot, while the deep branch innervates the first web space of the foot.

The presence of foot drop in such an injury suggests that the deep fibular nerve is affected, which can lead to decreased or absent sensation in the areas it supplies. Thus, a decrease or absence of sensation in the anterolateral aspect of the leg is expected due to the common fibular nerve's role in sensory innervation in that region.

Other options reflect areas of sensory loss that are not directly affected by the common fibular nerve. For instance, the posterior leg is primarily innervated by the tibial nerve, and the medial aspect of the leg is innervated by the saphenous nerve, a branch of the femoral nerve. As a result, these options would not correlate with the expected sensory loss following a common fibular nerve injury. Normal sensation across