Muscle · Neck

Intertransversarii posteriores cervicis

Musculi intertransversarii posteriores cervicis

The back half of the pair of small muscles that bridge each gap between adjacent cervical transverse processes, filling the space between the posterior tubercles. Each one is split into two parts by the branch of the spinal nerve passing between them, and the two parts answer to different nerves — the inner part to the back branch, the outer to the front one, which is the anatomical trace of the nerve threading through the middle of the muscle. Crossing one segment apiece, they tip a single vertebra towards their own side and, with the other short muscles of the spine, act as position sensors for the level they span.