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Scalenus minimus
Other Terms:
Variant scalene muscle,
Sibson's muscle,
Musculus scalenus minimus,
Muscle petit scalène
Muscle parts
None
Latin name
Musculus scalenus minimus
Latin muscle parts
None
Group
Cervical wall – lateral musculature – internal layer
Etymology
The English name for this muscle is the smallest muscle with three unequal sides. Scalenus is Latin for “having three unequal sides,” which comes from the Greek skallein meaning “to hoe, or stir up.” The name of the scalene muscles can be traced back to the 17th century French anatomist Jean Riolan. He thought that the three scalenes were one muscle and he envisioned their combined shape as that of an irregular three-sided, or scalene, triangle.Minimus is the Latin word meaning “smallest.”
Origin
Transverse process of C7
Insertion
First rib
Action
Elevates the first rib – the fibers that attach to the first rib assist the anterior and middle scalene with elevation of the first rib.Tenses the dome of the parietal pleura – the fibers that flair onto the pleural dome help raise and tense this part of the parietal pleura.
Nerve supply
Branches of the ventral rami of cervical spinal nerves (C7 and C8)
Blood supply
The ascending cervical and various muscular branches from the inferior thyroid, which is a branch of the thyrocervical trunk of the subclavian artery, supply the muscle. It also receives blood from the suprascapular artery and the superficial cervical artery.
Latin
Musculus scalenus minimus
French
Muscle petit scalène