Nerve · Neck

Transverse cervical nerve

Nervus transversus colli

The cervical plexus branch that crosses the neck sideways. It hooks round the back edge of sternocleidomastoid at the same point as the great auricular nerve, then turns forward and runs horizontally across the muscle, deep to platysma, before fanning into ascending and descending twigs that pierce that thin sheet to reach the skin. Between them those twigs cover the whole front of the neck, from the lower jaw down to the breastbone. It is the only cutaneous nerve of the neck that travels transversely, which is why the numb band left when it is interrupted runs across the throat rather than down it.