Levatores costarum

Levatores costarum

  • Latin synonym: Musculi levatores costarum
  • Synonym: Levatores costarum muscles; Levator costae muscles

Definition

Origin: Transverse processes of C7 to T12vertebrae

Insertion: Superior surfaces of the ribs immediately inferior to the preceding vertebrae

Nerve: Dorsal rami - C8, T1, T2, T3, T4,T5, T6, T7, T8, T9, T10, T11

Action: Assists in elevation of the thoracic rib cage

Description:
The Levatores costarum, twelve in number on either side, are small tendinous and fleshy bundles, which arise from the ends of the transverse processes of the seventh cervical and upper eleven thoracic vertebrae; they pass obliquely downward and lateralward, like the fibers of the Intercostales externi, and each is inserted into the outer surface of the rib immediately below the vertebra from which it takes origin, between the tubercle and the angle (Levatores costarum breves). Each of the four lower muscles divides into two fasciculi, one of which is inserted as above described; the other passes down to the second rib below its origin (Levatores costarum longi).

This definition incorporates text from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy (20th U.S. edition of Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body, published in 1918 – from http://www.bartleby.com/107/).

Comparative anatomy in animals

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