Thoracic spinal nerves

THORACIC SPINAL NERVES

  • There are thirteen pairs of dorsal spinal nerves and their arrangements are almost similar.
  • The dorsal branches pass up into the intertransverse space and divide into medial and lateral branches of which the former supply the spinal muscles and skin of the region.
  • The lateral branches are directed upward, pass through the longissimus dorsi and appear between it and the transversalis costarum. They break off into filaments to supply the skin.
  • The ventral branches are the intercostal nerves. The first and second dorsal enter into the formation of the brachial plexus.
  • The ventral branches of the rest are much larger than the dorsal branches and descend into the intercostal spaces in company with the vessels.
  • At the upper half they run in between the intercostal muscles and supplies it.
  • About the middle they comes out of the muscle as perforating branch supply the cutaneous muscle and skin of the thorax and abdomen.
  • The intercostal nerves from the eighth to the thirteenth supply sensory branches to the diaphragm.

Last modified: Sunday, 16 October 2011, 7:45 AM