ArticleAnatomy & cell biology2017
Morphological classification and comparison of suboccipital muscle fiber characteristics.
Article in Anatomy & cell biology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neck proprioception and mobility improved after upper neck and spine treatment: a randomized controlled trial.Experimental brain research · 2026Trial
- MRI-based evidence of rectus capitis posterior minor hypertrophy and its correlation with disease duration in Parkinson's disease.BMC medical imaging · 2026Article
- Effects of Dry Needling of the Obliquus Capitis Inferior in Patients with Cervicogenic Headache and Upper Cervical Dysfunction: An Exploratory Randomized Sham-Controlled Trial.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Fiber-type composition and 3D capillary analysis of the human splenius capitis muscle.Biomolecules & biomedicine · 2025Article
- Denervation of rectus capitis posterior minor as neglected factor in Chiari malformation type I revealed by double blinded prospective study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Dual analysis of postural control in middle-aged and elderly patients with cervicogenic dizziness: Dynamic and static balance perspectives.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2025Article
- Variations of the rectus capitis posterior muscles: a case report.Surgical and radiologic anatomy : SRA · 2024Article
- Effectiveness and Safety of Pharmacopuncture on Inpatients with Tension Headache Caused by Traffic Accidents: A Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Evidence for chronic headaches induced by pathological changes of myodural bridge complex.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- An anatomical investigation of the suboccipital- and inferior suboccipital triangles.Anatomy & cell biology · 2023Article
- Morphological Changes of the Suboccipital Musculature in Women with Myofascial Temporomandibular Pain: A Case-Control Study.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Suboccipital Muscles, Forward Head Posture, and Cervicogenic Dizziness.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2022Review
- Upper cervical spine dysfunction and dizziness.Journal of exercise rehabilitation · 2020Review
- Degenerative characteristics of the subaxial cervical spine in patients with degenerative lateral atlantoaxial osteoarthritis: A propensity score-matched study based on computed tomography imaging.Journal of craniovertebral junction & spineArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In an attempt to clarify the function of the suboccipital muscles, we performed morphological observation of the suboccipital muscles for variations in the muscle belly and compared the morphology of their muscle fibers in terms of cross-sectional area by immunostaining with anti-myosin heavy chain antibodies. The cadavers of 25 Japanese individuals were used: 22 for morphological examinations and three for histological examinations. Among samples of the rectus capitis posterior major muscle (RCPma) and rectus capitis posterior minor muscle (RCPmi), 86.4% had a typical muscle appearance with a single belly, and 13.6% had an anomalous morphology. None of the samples of the obliquus capitis superior (OCS) or obliquus capitis inferior (OCI) muscles had an anomalous appearance. Measurement of cross-sectional area revealed that fast-twitch muscle fibers in the RCPma and OCI had a significantly greater cross-sectional area than those of the RCPmi and OCS. The cross-sectional area of intermediate muscle fibers was also significantly greater in the OCS than in the RCPma, RCPmi, and OCI. The cross-sectional area of slow-twitch muscle fibers was significantly greater in the OCS than in the RCPma, RCPmi, and OCI, and the RCPmi showed a significantly greater cross-sectional area for slow-twitch muscle fibers than did the RCPma, and OCI. Our findings indicate that the RCPmi and OCS exert a greater force than the RCPma and OCI, and act as anti-gravity agonist muscles of the head. Prolonged head extension in individuals with anomalous suboccipital muscle groups could result in dysfunction due to undue stress.
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