Levatores costarum muscles
| Levatores costarum muscles |
|---|
|
| origin |
| Transverse process of the 7th cervical to 11th thoracic vertebra |
| approach |
| breves: next lower rib, longi: next but one deeper rib |
| function |
| Sideways bending and straightening of the spine |
| Innervation |
| Spinal nerve of the corresponding segment |
The levatores costarum muscles ( Latin for "rib lifter", singular levator costae muscle ) are a group of short skeletal muscles that belong to the "local back muscles" . They move from the ribs to the transverse processes of vertebrae lying further towards the head. In humans, there are 12 such muscle pairs that are located between the last cervical and eleventh thoracic vertebrae. You skip a vertebral segment ( Musculi levatores costarum breves , "short rib lifters"). The bottom four split into two strands, one of which skips two segments. These are called "long rib elevators" ( Musculi levatores costarum longi ).
The name of these muscles is misleading, because they do not “lift” the ribs, but rather pull the vertebral body downwards, thus flexing sideways when contracting on one side and straightening the spine when contracting on both sides (dorsiflexion).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Michael Schünke: Functional Anatomy - Topography and Function of the Movement System . Georg Thieme, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 978-3-13-118571-6 , p. 173 .