Tail muscles

The tail muscles ( Latin caudae or coccygis muscles ) are those skeletal muscles that attach to the caudal vertebrae and serve to move the tail . In mammalian anatomy, two groups are distinguished according to origin . The spine-tail muscles arise from the lumbar , sacrum or other caudal vertebrae, the pelvis-tail muscles at the pelvis .

The spinal tail muscles include:

• Sacrocaudalis dorsalis medialis muscle
• Sacrocaudalis dorsalis lateralis muscle
• Sacrocaudalis ventralis medialis muscle
• Sacrocaudalis ventralis lateralis muscle
• Intertransversarii dorsales caudae muscles
• Intertransversarii ventral caudae muscles

The back (dorsal) tail muscles correspond to the epaxial back muscles (in humans see autochthonous back muscles ), whereby the sacrocaudalis dorsalis medialis muscle is the continuation of the multifidi muscles and the sacrocaudalis dorsalis lateralis muscle is the continuation of the longissimus muscle . They raise the tail and move it to one side when contracting on one side. The abdomen (ventral) tail muscles serve as pullers down and sideways. The medial caudal artery runs between the ventral medial sacrocaudal muscles on both sides and can be used as a pulse sensing point in larger animals. The horse's crooked tail is a disease of the tail muscles. In the case of the "water rod" (coccygeal myopathy) in dogs, inflammation or poor blood flow to the tail muscles is also suspected to be the cause.

The pelvic tail muscles form the pelvic diaphragm, a corresponding muscle plate in the human pelvic floor . These muscles include the coccygeus muscle and the levator ani muscle, and in a broader sense also the rectococcygeus muscle . An atrophy of these muscles leads to perineal hernia , which can be observed especially in dogs.

literature

Franz-Viktor Salomon: Tail muscles. In: Franz-Viktor Salomon et al .: Anatomy for veterinary medicine. Enke Stuttgart, 3rd ext. Edition 2015, ISBN 978-3-8304-1288-5 , pp. 199-200.