Semispinalis capitis at a glance
- What it is
- A large muscle of the posterior neck forming the bulge beside the midline.
- Location
- Originates from the transverse processes of C7 to T6 (and articular processes of C4 to C6) and inserts onto the occipital bone between the superior and inferior nuchal lines.
- Function
- Extends the head and neck and rotates the head slightly to the opposite side.
- Body system
- Muscular · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA22876 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Innervation: dorsal rami of cervical spinal nerves
- The greater occipital nerve pierces it
Structures next to the semispinalis capitis
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Obliquus capitis inferior · muscular
- Cervical rotator · muscular
- Interspinales cervicis · muscular
- Longissimus capitis · muscular
- Rectus capitis posterior major · muscular
- Third cervical vertebra · skeletal
- Vertebral artery · cardiovascular
- Fourth cervical vertebra · skeletal
- Axis · skeletal
- Posterior cervical intertransversarii · muscular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Semispinalis capitis (FMA22876). 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.