The transversospinales are a group of

muscle Muscle is a soft tissue, one of the four basic types of animal tissue. There are three types of muscle tissue in vertebrates: skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and smooth muscle. Muscle tissue gives skeletal muscles the ability to muscle contra ...

s of the

human back The human back, also called the dorsum (: dorsa), is the large posterior area of the human body, rising from the top of the buttocks to the back of the neck. It is the surface of the body opposite from the chest and the abdomen. The vertebr ...

. Their combined action is rotation and extension of the

vertebral column The spinal column, also known as the vertebral column, spine or backbone, is the core part of the axial skeleton in vertebrates. The vertebral column is the defining and eponymous characteristic of the vertebrate. The spinal column is a segmente ...

. These muscles are small and have a poor mechanical advantage for contributing to motion. They include: the three

semispinalis muscles The semispinalis muscles are a group of three muscles belonging to the transversospinales. These are the semispinalis capitis, the semispinalis cervicis and the semispinalis thoracis. Location The semispinalis capitis (''complexus'') is situate ...

, the

multifidus muscle The multifidus (multifidus spinae; : ''multifidi'') muscle consists of a number of fleshy and tendinous fasciculi, which fill up the groove on either side of the spinous processes of the vertebrae, from the sacrum to the axis. While very thin, ...

, and the rotatores muscles.

Location

The three

, span 4-6 vertebral segments: ** semispinalis thoracis ** semispinalis cervicis ** semispinalis capitis The

, and spans 2-4 vertebral segments The rotatores muscles, lie beneath the multifidus, and spans 1-2 vertebral segments ** rotatores cervicis ** rotatores thoracis ** rotatores lumborum

External links

* Musculoskeletal Interventions: Techniques for Therapeutic exercise. Authors: Michael L. Voight, Barabara J. Hoogenboom, William E. Prentice. {{Authority control Muscles of the torso