Dictionary

levator costae en · NOUN

Meanings

1. One of the small deep muscles connecting the ribs to the vertebrae of the posterior spine, that are used to elevate the ribs.
   • The Levatores costarum (fig. 572), twelve in number on each side, are strong bundles which arise from the ends of the transverse processes of the seventh cervical and upper eleven thoracic vertebræ; 1958, Henry Gray, Thomas Baillie Johnston, David Vaughan Davies, Anatomy, Descriptive and, page 584:
   • Finally, levator costae and levatores costarum originate at the transverse processes of each vertebrae and, running obliquely downward and outward, attach to the ribs below. Levator costae is a single muscle; levatores costarum, found at the lower thoracic vertebrae, is comprised of a short and a long muscle, the shorter one attaching to the rib below, and the longer attaching two ribs below its origin. 2001, Theodore Dimon, Anatomy of the Moving Body: A Basic Course in Bones, Muscles, and Joints, page 27:
   • The levatores costarum are small and very deep muscles on the posterior trunk. tells us that these muscles elevate the ribs. 2005, Joseph E. Muscolino, The Muscular System Manual, page 255:

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