Obliquus capitis superior at a glance
- What it is
- A small suboccipital muscle forming the superolateral border of the suboccipital triangle.
- Location
- Originates from the transverse process of the atlas (C1) and inserts onto the occipital bone between the superior and inferior nuchal lines.
- Function
- Extends the head at the atlanto-occipital joint and bends it to the same side.
- Body system
- Muscular · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA32535 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Innervation: suboccipital nerve (dorsal ramus of C1)
- Blood supply: vertebral and occipital arteries
Structures next to the obliquus capitis superior
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Rectus capitis lateralis · muscular
- Posterior inferior cerebellar artery · cardiovascular
- Rectus capitis posterior major · muscular
- Rectus capitis posterior minor · muscular
- Obliquus capitis inferior · muscular
- Anterior spinal artery · cardiovascular
- Central canal of spinal cord · nervous
- Atlas · skeletal
- Medulla oblongata · nervous
- Rectus capitis anterior · muscular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Obliquus capitis superior (FMA32535). 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.