Morphometry of human neck muscles

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Kamibayashi, Lynne K.¹; Richmond, Frances J. R.¹

Morphometry of human neck muscles

Spine. June 15, 1998;23(12):1314-1323

©1998 Lippincott-Raven Publishers

Affiliations

¹Medical Research Council Group in Sensory-Motor Neuroscience, Department of Physiology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario
Abstract and keywords

Study Design: Cadaveric dissections were used to study muscle morphometry.

Objective: To describe systematically the musculotendinous lengths, fascicle lengths, pennation angles, and physiologic cross-sectional areas of neck and shoulder muscles implicated in head movement.

Summary of Background Data: In previous studies of neck-muscle anatomy, researchers described only a subset of muscle features, often using crude or indirect methods. None used microdissected muscles to correct measured parameters for the presence of multiple fiber compartments, internal aponeuroses, or variations in fiber or sarcomere length required for quantitative models of force-generating capabilities.

Methods: Muscle mass, pennation angle, fascicle length, and sarcomere length were measured in 14 neck muscles from 10 human cadavers. Architecturally complex muscles with multiple attachments were divided into subvolumes, and each subvolume was examined from both the superficial and deep surfaces. Internal aponeuroses were microdissected within muscles to characterize architectural specializations. Physiologic cross-sectional areas were calculated from the morphometric data.

Results: The neck musculature was architecturally complex. Many muscles crossed two or more joints and had multiple attachments to different bones. In some, the presence of tendons and aponeuroses was associated with specializations in fascicle organization. Considerable interindividual variation was found in the number and location of tendinous insertions of the scalenes and longissimus capitis muscles. In addition, rhomboideus showed significant variations in its size and shape. The cross-sectional areas of neck muscles from large and small subjects did not scale proportionately with body height and weight, nor did individual muscles with widely varying cross-sectional areas (0.3-15.3cm2) scale from one subject to another.

Conclusions: The accuracy of morphometry can be improved by incorporating measurements made by microdissecting neck muscles. The presence of aponeurotic attachments can greatly shorten fascicle length; failure to identify such attachments can lead to underestimates of cross-sectional areas. Accuracy of a generalized model of the neck is also improved by normalizing sarcomere lengths in all muscles.

Keywords: biomechanics, human neck muscles, modeling, muscle architecture, physiologic cross-sectional area
Links

DOI: 10.1097/00007632-199806150-00005

PubMed: 9654620

WoS: 000074368700004

Ovid: 00007632-199806150-00005
History

Received: 1997-02-01

Accepted: 1997-05-04

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2016	Feller L, Kleinbach C, Fehr J, Schmitt S. Incorporating muscle activation dynamics into the Global Human Body Model. In: Proceedings of the 2016 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Injury. September 14-16, 2016; Malaga, Spain.512-523.
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