Longus capitis muscle

Longus capitis muscle
The anterior vertebral muscles.
Latin	musculus longus capitis
Gray's	subject #113 395
Origin	anterior tubercles of the transverse processes of the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth cervical vertebræ
Insertion	basilar part of the occipital bone
Artery
Nerve	C1-C3/C4
Actions	flexion of neck at atlanto-occipital joint

The longus capitis muscle (rectus capitis anticus major), broad and thick above, narrow below, arises by four tendinous slips, from the anterior tubercles of the transverse processes of the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth cervical vertebræ, and ascends, converging toward its fellow of the opposite side, to be inserted into the inferior surface of the basilar part of the occipital bone.

It is innervated by a branch of cervical plexus.

Longus capitis has several actions:

acting unilaterally, to: flex the head and neck laterally rotate the head ipsilaterally acting bilaterally, to flex the head and neck

Additional images

• 

  Occipital bone. Outer surface.

• 

  Left temporal bone. Outer surface.

• 

  Base of skull. Inferior surface.

External links

• LUC lonc
• -1972699056 at GPnotebook
• Longus+capitis+muscle at eMedicine Dictionary
• Roche Lexicon - illustrated navigator, at Elsevier 25420.000-1
• PTCentral

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained within it may be outdated.