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The cervical plexus is a
Image:Gray804.png, Plan of the cervical plexus.
Image:Gray805.png, The nerves of the scalp, face, and side of neck.
Image:Gray838.png, The right sympathetic chain and its connections with the thoracic, abdominal, and pelvic plexuses.
Image:Gray1210.png, Side of neck, showing chief surface markings.
Diagram at msu.edu
{{Authority control Nerve plexus Spinal nerves Nerves of the head and neck
plexus
In neuroanatomy, a plexus (from the Latin term for "braid") is a branching network of vessels or nerves. The vessels may be blood vessels (veins, capillaries) or lymphatic vessels. The nerves are typically axons outside the central nervous sy ...
of the anterior rami of the first four cervical spinal nerves which arise from C1 to C4 cervical segment in the neck
The neck is the part of the body on many vertebrates that connects the head with the torso. The neck supports the weight of the head and protects the nerves that carry sensory and motor information from the brain down to the rest of the body. In ...
. They are located laterally to the transverse processes between prevertebral muscles from the medial side and vertebral (m. scalenus
''Scalenus'' is an Old World genus of round-necked longhorn beetles of the subfamily Cerambycinae.
Species
'' Scalenus auricomus'' (Ritsema, 1890)
'' Scalenus borneensis'' Bentanachs & Drouin, 2014
''Scalenus cingalensis'' (White, 1855)
''Sca ...
, m. levator scapulae, m. splenius cervicis) from lateral side. There is anastomosis with accessory nerve, hypoglossal nerve and sympathetic trunk. It is located in the neck
The neck is the part of the body on many vertebrates that connects the head with the torso. The neck supports the weight of the head and protects the nerves that carry sensory and motor information from the brain down to the rest of the body. In ...
, deep to the sternocleidomastoid muscle.
Nerves formed from the cervical plexus innervate the back of the head, as well as some neck muscles. The branches of the cervical plexus emerge from the posterior triangle at the nerve point, a point which lies midway on the posterior border of the sternocleidomastoid.
Branches
The cervical plexus has two types of branches:cutaneous
Skin is the layer of usually soft, flexible outer tissue covering the body of a vertebrate animal, with three main functions: protection, regulation, and sensation.
Other animal coverings, such as the arthropod exoskeleton, have different ...
and muscular.
*Cutaneous (4 branches):
** Lesser occipital nerve - innervates the skin and the scalp posterosuperior to the auricle (C2)
** Great auricular nerve - innervates skin near concha auricle ( outer ear) and external acoustic meatus (ear canal
The ear canal (external acoustic meatus, external auditory meatus, EAM) is a pathway running from the outer ear to the middle ear. The adult human ear canal extends from the pinna to the eardrum and is about in length and in diameter.
Stru ...
) (C2&C3)
** Transverse cervical nerve - innervates anterior region of neck (C2 and C3)
** Supraclavicular nerves - innervate the skin above and below the clavicle (C3 and C4) Clinically Oriented Anatomy by Moore and Dally's
*Muscular
** Ansa cervicalis (This is a loop formed from C1-C3 which supplies the four infrahyoid aka strap muscles), etc. ( thyrohyoid (C1 only), sternothyroid, sternohyoid, omohyoid
The omohyoid muscle is a muscle that depresses the hyoid. It is located in the front of the neck, and consists of two bellies separated by an intermediate tendon. The omohyoid muscle is proximally attached to the scapula and distally attached to th ...
)
** Phrenic (C3-C5 (primarily C4))-innervates thoracic diaphragm
The thoracic diaphragm, or simply the diaphragm ( grc, διάφραγμα, diáphragma, partition), is a sheet of internal skeletal muscle in humans and other mammals that extends across the bottom of the thoracic cavity. The diaphragm is the ...
and the pericardium
The pericardium, also called pericardial sac, is a double-walled sac containing the heart and the roots of the great vessels. It has two layers, an outer layer made of strong connective tissue (fibrous pericardium), and an inner layer made of ...
**Segmental branches (C1-C4)- innervates anterior and middle scalenes
The scalene muscles are a group of three pairs of muscles in the lateral neck, namely the anterior scalene, middle scalene, and posterior scalene. They are innervated by the third to the eight cervical spinal nerves (C3-C8).
The anterior and m ...
** Levator scapulae muscle (C3, C4), also by dorsal scapular nerve (C5) from Brachial plexus
The brachial plexus is a network () of nerves formed by the anterior rami of the lower four cervical nerves and first thoracic nerve ( C5, C6, C7, C8, and T1). This plexus extends from the spinal cord, through the cervicoaxillary canal in th ...
Diagram
Additional images
See also
*Cervical plexus block
In anatomy, cervical is an adjective that has two meanings:
# of or pertaining to any neck.
# of or pertaining to the female cervix: i.e., the ''neck'' of the uterus.
*Commonly used medical phrases involving the neck are
**cervical collar
**cervic ...
References
External links
* - "Diagram of the cervical plexus" *Diagram at msu.edu
{{Authority control Nerve plexus Spinal nerves Nerves of the head and neck