Nerve · Neck

Dorsal scapular nerve

Nervus dorsalis scapulae

The dorsal scapular nerve peels off the very top of the brachial plexus at C5 and runs down the deep side of the shoulder blade to supply the rhomboids and levator scapulae — the muscles that pull the scapula in toward the spine. It carries no skin sensation at all, so a problem with it never causes numbness; it shows up instead as weakness holding the shoulder blade back, and as a deep, hard-to-point-to ache along the inner border of the scapula.