Cervical rotator at a glance
- Also called
- Rotatores cervicis
- What it is
- Small deep muscles of the neck's transversospinalis group (rotatores cervicis).
- Location
- Each runs from the transverse process of one cervical vertebra to the spinous process (lamina) of the vertebra above.
- Function
- Extend and rotate the vertebral column toward the opposite side; mainly proprioceptive.
- Body system
- Muscular · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA81752 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Innervation: posterior rami of cervical spinal nerves
- Rotatores are the deepest layer of the transversospinalis group, under multifidus and semispinalis; they are best developed in the thoracic region and small in the neck.
- They are rich in muscle spindles, which supports their role as position sensors.
Structures next to the cervical rotator
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Fourth cervical vertebra · skeletal
- Fifth cervical vertebra · skeletal
- Interspinales cervicis · muscular
- Third cervical vertebra · skeletal
- Posterior cervical intertransversarii · muscular
- Semispinalis capitis · muscular
- Sixth cervical vertebra · skeletal
- Longissimus capitis · muscular
- Anterior cervical intertransversarii · muscular
- Intervertebral disk of fourth cervical vertebra · skeletal
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Cervical rotator (FMA81752). 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.