Acromial part of deltoid at a glance
- What it is
- The middle fibres of the deltoid, forming the rounded contour of the shoulder.
- Location
- Origin: lateral border and upper surface of the acromion. Insertion: deltoid tuberosity of the humerus.
- Function
- Abducts the arm from about 15 to 90 degrees (after supraspinatus starts the movement).
- Body system
- Muscular · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA34682 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Innervation: axillary nerve (C5–C6)
- Blood supply: posterior circumflex humeral and deltoid branch of thoracoacromial arteries
- Its fibres are multipennate, which gives it great strength over a short range.
Clinical relevance
Axillary nerve injury, e.g. in shoulder dislocation, weakens abduction and flattens the shoulder.
Structures next to the acromial part of deltoid
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Posterior circumflex humeral artery · cardiovascular
- Anterior circumflex humeral artery · cardiovascular
- Coracobrachialis · muscular
- Teres minor · muscular
- Clavicular part of deltoid · muscular
- Circumflex scapular artery · cardiovascular
- Spinal part of deltoid · muscular
- Subscapular artery · cardiovascular
- Thoracodorsal artery · cardiovascular
- Deltoid branch of thoraco-acromial artery · cardiovascular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Acromial part of deltoid (FMA34682). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §11.2 Naming Skeletal Muscles. Rice University, 2022.
- Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.
Related anatomy
Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.