Rectus capitis posterior minor muscle
Open-knowledge reference entry
The rectus capitis posterior minor (or rectus capitis posticus minor) is a muscle in the upper back part of the neck. It is one of the suboccipital muscles. Its inferior attachment is at the posterior arch of atlas; its superior attachment is onto the occipital bone at and below the inferior nuchal line. The muscle is innervated by the suboccipital nerve (the posterior ramus of first cervical spinal nerve). The muscle acts as a weak extensor of the head.
Anatomy
The rectus capitis posterior minor muscle is one of the suboccipital muscles.
The muscle extends vertically superior-ward from its inferior attachment to its superior attachment. The muscle becomes broader superiorly.
Attachments
The muscle originates inferiorly by a narrow tendon from the posterior tubercle of the posterior arch of atlas.
It is inserted superiorly into the medial portion of the inferior nuchal line and the external surface of the occipital bone inferior to it (between this line superiorly and the foramen magnum inferiorly).
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This entry incorporates text from “Rectus capitis posterior minor muscle” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.