Pectoralis minor at a glance
- What it is
- A thin triangular muscle lying deep to pectoralis major on the upper chest wall.
- Location
- Originates from the outer surfaces of ribs 3 to 5 near their costal cartilages and inserts onto the coracoid process of the scapula.
- Function
- Draws the scapula forward and downward, stabilizing it against the thoracic wall; it can elevate the ribs in forced inspiration when the scapula is fixed.
- Body system
- Muscular · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA13375 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Innervation: medial pectoral nerve (C8–T1), usually with fibers from the lateral pectoral nerve (C5–C7)
- Blood supply: pectoral branch of the thoracoacromial artery
- Crosses the axillary artery and divides it into three parts
Structures next to the pectoralis minor
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Pectoral branch of thoraco-acromial artery · cardiovascular
- Superior lingular bronchial tree · respiratory
- Clavicular part of pectoralis major · muscular
- Sternocostal part of pectoralis major · muscular
- Axillary vein · cardiovascular
- Fourth rib · skeletal
- Inferior lingular bronchial tree · respiratory
- Lateral thoracic artery · cardiovascular
- Fifth rib · skeletal
- Superior pulmonary vein · cardiovascular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Pectoralis minor (FMA13375). 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.