Muscle · Thoracic spine
Rotatores thoracis breves
Musculi rotatores thoracis breves
Reviewed by Dr. Ryan Rietz, D.P.T. and Dr. John Breyman, D.C.
The deepest muscles of the back and the shortest in the body's whole spinal system — each one is a small square slip running from the transverse process of one thoracic vertebra up to the lamina of the vertebra immediately above it, crossing a single joint. They are best developed in the thoracic region, where they exist as a complete set. Their fibres are so short and so close to the axis they turn around that they can produce almost no movement, and they carry a high density of muscle spindles for their size — which is why they are read as segmental position sensors reporting where each vertebra sits, at least as much as movers of it.
Also known as
- short rotatores
- rotatores breves
- short rotators of the thoracic spine
- transversospinalis