Descending part of trapezius at a glance
- What it is
- The upper fibres of trapezius, running down from the skull and neck.
- Location
- Origin: medial third of the superior nuchal line, external occipital protuberance and nuchal ligament. Insertion: posterior border of the lateral third of the clavicle.
- Function
- Elevates the scapula (shrugging) and helps rotate it upward; with both sides acting, extends the neck.
- Body system
- Muscular · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA33586 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Innervation: spinal accessory nerve (CN XI); pain and proprioception from C3–C4
- Blood supply: superficial branch of the transverse cervical artery
Clinical relevance
Spinal accessory nerve injury weakens shoulder shrugging and causes a drooping shoulder.
Structures next to the descending part of trapezius
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Longissimus capitis · muscular
- Levator scapulae · muscular
- Semispinalis capitis · muscular
- Deep cervical artery · cardiovascular
- Scalenus medius · muscular
- Cervical rotator · muscular
- Splenius capitis · muscular
- Obliquus capitis inferior · muscular
- Omohyoid · muscular
- Scalenus posterior · muscular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Descending part of trapezius (FMA33586). 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.