Splenius colli muscle
Musculus splenius colli
Splenius colli is a strap muscle of the upper back and neck, running from mid-thoracic spines to the upper cervical transverse processes.
At a glance
- English
- Splenius colli muscle
- Latin (TA2)
- Musculus splenius colli
- System
- Muscle
- Region
- Neck
- Side
- Paired, left and right
- Inserts on
- The atlas (c1)
About the splenius colli muscle
Splenius colli, also called splenius cervicis, is the lower and narrower partner of splenius capitis. The two form the splenius group, a superficial layer of the deep back muscles that wraps obliquely around the deeper columns of the neck. The name comes from a Greek word for a bandage, with colli and cervicis both meaning of the neck.
It begins by a slim tendinous band on the spines of T3 to T6, below and to the side of the origin of splenius capitis. Its fibres climb upward and outward along the lateral edge of splenius capitis and split into tendinous bundles that reach the back tubercles on the transverse processes of the atlas, the axis and often C3. There they share attachments with levator scapulae and with the upper scalenes.
Contracting on both sides, the muscle extends the cervical spine and holds the neck upright against the forward weight of the head. Contracting on one side, it bends the neck towards that side and rotates the upper cervical vertebrae so the face turns to the same side. It works with splenius capitis and the opposite sternocleidomastoid in turning the head.
Splenius colli lies under trapezius, rhomboids and serratus posterior superior, and over longissimus and the semispinalis muscles. Like other neck extensors it can be strained in sudden flexion-extension injuries, and spasm in its upper attachments may contribute to stiffness and to pain felt at the side of the upper neck.
Attachments, action and supply
- Origin
- Spines of T3 to T6, by a narrow tendinous band.
- Insertion
- Back tubercles on the transverse processes of C1, C2 and often C3.
- Action
- Extends the neck on both sides; bends the neck to the same side and turns the face to the same side on one side.
- Nerve supply
- Lateral branches of the dorsal rami of the lower cervical spinal nerves.
- Blood supply
- Muscular branches of the occipital and transverse cervical arteries, with the deep cervical artery.
Anthromica
See the splenius colli muscle where it really sits, with every layer of the body around it.
- Every layer, one body. Peel from muscle to bone, nerve, vessel and organ, and turn it any way.
- English and Latin. Every structure named the way your exam names it.
- Quiz until it sticks. Short drills on the structures you keep missing.
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