dots-menu
×

Home  »  Anatomy of the Human Body  »  pages 400

Henry Gray (1825–1861). Anatomy of the Human Body. 1918.

pages 400

dorsi, and is intimately blended with it; it arises by three or four tendons from the spinous processes of the first two lumbar and the last two thoracic vertebræ: these, uniting, form a small muscle which is inserted by separate tendons into the spinous processes of the upper thoracic vertebræ, the number varying from four to eight. It is intimately united with the Semispinalis dorsi, situated beneath it.
  The Spinalis cervicis (Spinalis colli) is an inconstant muscle, which arises from the lower part of the ligamentum nuchæ, the spinous process of the seventh cervical, and sometimes from the spinous processes of the first and second thoracic vertebræ, and is inserted into the spinous process of the axis, and occasionally into the spinous processes of the two vertebræ below it.
  The Spinalis capitis (Biventer cervicis) is usually inseparably connected with the Semispinalis capitis (see below).
  The Semispinalis dorsi consists of thin, narrow, fleshy fasciculi, interposed between tendons of considerable length. It arises by a series of small tendons from the transverse processes of the sixth to the tenth thoracic vertebræ, and is inserted, by tendons, into the spinous processes of the upper four thoracic and lower two cervical vertebræ.
  The Semispinalis cervicis (Semispinalis colli), thicker than the preceding, arises by a series of tendinous and fleshy fibers from the transverse processes of the upper five or six thoracic vertebræ, and is inserted into the cervical spinous processes, from the axis to the fifth inclusive. The fasciculus connected with the axis is the largest, and is chiefly muscular in structure.
  The Semispinalis capitis (Complexus) is situated at the upper and back part of the neck, beneath the Splenius, and medial to the Longissimus cervicis and capitis. It arises by a series of tendons from the tips of the transverse processes of the upper six or seven thoracic and the seventh cervical vertebræ, and from the articular processes of the three cervical above this. The tendons, uniting, form a broad muscle, which passes upward, and is inserted between the superior and inferior nuchal lines of the occipital bone. The medial part, usually more or less distinct from the remainder of the muscle, is frequently termed the Spinalis capitis; it is also named the Biventer cervicis since it is traversed by an imperfect tendinous inscription.
  The Multifidus (Multifidus spinæ) consists of a number of fleshy and tendinous fasciculi, which fill up the groove on either side of the spinous processes of the vertebræ, from the sacrum to the axis. In the sacral region, these fasciculi arise from the back of the sacrum, as low as the fourth sacral foramen, from the aponeurosis of origin of the Sacrospinalis, from the medial surface of the posterior superior iliac spine, and from the posterior sacroiliac ligaments; in the lumbar region, from all the mamillary processes; in the thoracic region, from all the transverse processes; and in the cervical region, from the articular processes of the lower four vertebræ. Each fasciculus, passing obliquely upward and medialward, is inserted into the whole length of the spinous process of one of the vertebræ above. These fasciculi vary in length: the most superficial, the longest, pass from one vertebra to the third or fourth above; those next in order run from one vertebra to the second or third above; while the deepest connect two contiguous vertebræ.
  The Rotatores (Rotatores spinæ) lie beneath the Multifidus and are found only in the thoracic region; they are eleven in number on either side. Each muscle is small and somewhat quadrilateral in form; it arises from the upper and back part of the transverse process, and is inserted into the lower border and lateral surface of the lamina of the vertebra above, the fibers extending as far as the root of the spinous process. The first is found between the first and second thoracic vertebræ; the last, between the eleventh and twelfth. Sometimes the number of these muscles is diminished by the absence of one or more from the upper or lower end.
  The Interspinales are short muscular fasciculi, placed in pairs between the