The rotatores muscles (rotatores spinae muscles) lie beneath the
multifidus and are present in all spinal regions but are most prominent in the
thoracic
The thorax or chest is a part of the anatomy of humans, mammals, and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main divisions of the crea ...
region; they are eleven in number on either side.
Each muscle is small and somewhat quadrilateral in form; it arises from the superior and posterior part of the
transverse process
The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates, Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic ...
, and is inserted into the lower border and lateral surface of the
lamina of the
vertebra
The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates, Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characterist ...
above, the fibers extending as far as the root of the
spinous process
The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates, Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic ...
.
The first thoracic rotatores muscle is found between the first and second
thoracic vertebrae
In vertebrates, thoracic vertebrae compose the middle segment of the vertebral column, between the cervical vertebrae and the lumbar vertebrae. In humans, there are twelve thoracic vertebrae and they are intermediate in size between the cervical ...
; 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 Rotatores muscles have a high density of
proprioceptors and have been implicated in postural control.
See also
*
Multifidus muscle
References
External links
{{Authority control
Muscles of the torso