Rectus capitis lateralis at a glance
- What it is
- A small deep muscle lateral to the atlanto-occipital joint.
- Location
- Originates from the transverse process of the atlas and inserts onto the jugular process of the occipital bone.
- Function
- Bends the head laterally to the same side and stabilizes the atlanto-occipital joint.
- Body system
- Muscular · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA46318 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Innervation: ventral rami of C1–C2
- Blood supply: vertebral and occipital arteries
Structures next to the rectus capitis lateralis
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Rectus capitis anterior · muscular
- Obliquus capitis superior · muscular
- Anterior spinal artery · cardiovascular
- Vertebral artery · cardiovascular
- Obliquus capitis inferior · muscular
- Salpingopharyngeus · muscular
- Medulla oblongata · nervous
- Atlas · skeletal
- Levator veli palatini · muscular
- Central canal of spinal cord · nervous
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Rectus capitis lateralis (FMA46318). 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.