Anatom3DNeck
Collum · Krk
Muscles
Looks like
Seven vertebrae, the windpipe and gullet, the great vessels and the thyroid, in a narrow column.
What it does
Carries the head, the airway, the food pipe and the blood supply to the brain.
Keeping it well
Screens at eye level, strength work, care with sudden twisting. A stiff neck with fever and a rash is an emergency.
Its parts
- Cervical spine (C1–C7)
- Sternocleidomastoid
- Scalene muscles
- Hyoid bone
- Infrahyoid (strap) muscles
- Upper trapezius
- Thyroid gland
- Common carotid arteries
- Vertebral arteries
- Internal jugular veins
- External jugular veins
- Cervical plexus
- Phrenic nerve
- Cervical lymph nodes
- Right lymphatic duct
- Cervical trachea
- Cervical oesophagus
- Back of neck
- Anatomical conduit space
- Digastric
- Geniohyoid
- Inferior oblique part of longus colli
- Longus capitis
- Mylohyoid
- Obliquus capitis inferior
- Obliquus capitis superior
- Rectus capitis anterior
- Rectus capitis lateralis
- Rectus capitis posterior major
- Rectus capitis posterior minor
- Splenius capitis
- Splenius cervicis
- Stylohyoid
- Superior oblique part of longus colli
- Vertical intermediate part of longus colli
- Intermediate tendon of digastric muscle
- Superficial investing cervical fascia
Related conditions
- 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (DiGeorge)
- Acromegaly
- Adrenal insufficiency (Addison's)
- African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness)
- Amyloidosis (AL and ATTR)
- Botulism
- Brain aneurysm
- Carotid artery stenosis
- Cat-scratch disease
- Chickenpox (varicella)
- Chronic neuropathic pain
- Chronic pain syndrome
- Chronic venous insufficiency
- Clotting disorders (thrombophilia & APS)
- Congenital hypothyroidism
- Deep vein thrombosis
- Down syndrome (trisomy 21)
- Fibromyalgia
- Fractures
- Fragility fracture
- Frailty & falls in older age
- Gout
- Guillain-Barré syndrome
- Haemophilia & bleeding disorders
- Head and neck cancer
- Heat exhaustion & heatstroke
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
- Hyperparathyroidism
- Hyperthyroidism & Graves' disease
- Hypoparathyroidism
- Hypothermia & frostbite
- Hypothyroidism
- Ischaemic stroke
- Kawasaki disease
- Lyme disease
- Malnutrition & refeeding syndrome
- Marfan syndrome & connective tissue disorders
- Menopause & perimenopause
- Metabolic syndrome
- Mpox (monkeypox)
- Muscular dystrophy
- Myasthenia gravis
- Neck pain and cervical spondylosis
- Orthostatic hypotension & POTS
- Osteoarthritis
- Osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease)
- Osteomalacia & rickets
- Osteomyelitis (bone infection)
- Osteoporosis
- Paget's disease of bone
- Peripheral artery disease
- Peripheral neuropathy
- Phaeochromocytoma & hyperaldosteronism
- Polycystic ovary syndrome
- Polymyalgia rheumatica
- Postnatal depression
- Pre-eclampsia
- Psoriatic arthritis
- Rabies
- Raynaud's phenomenon
- Restless legs syndrome
- Retinal artery occlusion (eye stroke)
- Rhabdomyolysis
- Rheumatic fever & rheumatic heart disease
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Rubella (German measles)
- Sarcoma
- Sarcopenia
- Sepsis
- Shingles (herpes zoster)
- Shock (circulatory failure)
- Systemic lupus erythematosus
- Takayasu arteritis
- Temporomandibular joint disorder
- Tension-type headache
- Tetanus
- Thoracic outlet syndrome
- Thyroid cancer
- Thyroid nodules & goitre
- Thyroiditis (Hashimoto's & subacute)
- Tonsillitis & quinsy
- Transient ischaemic attack
- Turner syndrome
- Type 1 diabetes
- Varicose veins
- Vasculitis (GCA & others)
- Vitamin B1, C and other deficiencies
- Vitamin D deficiency
- Whiplash
- Wry neck (torticollis)