Semispinalis cervicis at a glance
- What it is
- A transversospinal muscle of the neck deep to semispinalis capitis.
- Location
- Originates from the transverse processes of T1 to T6 and inserts onto the spinous processes of C2 to C5.
- Function
- Extends the cervical spine and rotates it to the opposite side.
- Body system
- Muscular · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA22874 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Innervation: dorsal rami of cervical spinal nerves
- Semispinalis is the most superficial transversospinalis muscle, typically spanning four to six vertebrae; multifidus spans two to four and the rotatores one or two.
Structures next to the semispinalis cervicis
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Splenius cervicis · muscular
- Longissimus cervicis · muscular
- First thoracic vertebra · skeletal
- Second thoracic vertebra · skeletal
- Seventh cervical vertebra · skeletal
- Spinalis · muscular
- Rhomboid minor · muscular
- Intervertebral disk of first thoracic vertebra · skeletal
- Superior intercostal vein · cardiovascular
- Third thoracic vertebra · skeletal
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Semispinalis cervicis (FMA22874). 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.