Clinically, a reflex arc termed the cremasteric reflex can be demonstrated by lightly stroking the skin of the inner thigh downwards from the hip towards the knee. This stimulates the sensory fibers of the ilioinguinal nerve, which enters the spinal cord at L1. The sensory fibers stimulate the motor fibers of the genital branch of the genitofemoral nerve (also at spinal level L1), which provides innervation to the cremaster muscles causing the contraction of the muscle and elevation of the testes.