Levatores costarum breves at a glance
- What it is
- Short triangular muscles on the back of the thorax, part of the twelve pairs of levatores costarum.
- Location
- Arise from the transverse processes of C7 to T11 and insert onto the rib below, between its tubercle and angle.
- Function
- Elevate the ribs and help with lateral flexion and rotation of the spine.
- Body system
- Muscular · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA74077 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Innervation: dorsal rami of spinal nerves C8–T11
- Their action on breathing is debated; they may mainly help rotate and laterally flex the thoracic spine.
Structures next to the levatores costarum breves
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Levatores costarum longi · muscular
- Iliocostalis thoracis · muscular
- Inferior pulmonary vein · cardiovascular
- Semispinalis thoracis · muscular
- Thoracic rotator · muscular
- Seventh thoracic vertebra · skeletal
- Intervertebral disk of sixth thoracic vertebra · skeletal
- Descending thoracic aorta · cardiovascular
- Intervertebral disk of seventh thoracic vertebra · skeletal
- Sixth thoracic vertebra · skeletal
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Levatores costarum breves (FMA74077). 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.