Muscle · Neck

Longus capitis

Musculus longus capitis

Longus capitis is the upper of the two deep neck flexors, running from the transverse processes of the middle neck vertebrae up to the underside of the skull in front of the opening for the spinal cord. It nods the head forward on the neck — the upper-cervical half of a chin tuck — and, with longus colli, provides the deep, low-load endurance that holds the head in neutral over the shoulders. Like its partner it lies deep to the throat and is not directly palpable. Momentum's tight-vs-weak chart lists the deep neck flexors as inhibited, and deep neck flexor endurance failure is the movement failure that system attributes to tension headache.