Erector spinae

The Erector spinæ (or Sacrospinalis in older texts), a bundle of muscles and tendons, and its prolongations in the thoracic and cervical regions, lie in the groove on the side of the vertebral column.

They are covered in the lumbar and thoracic regions by the lumbodorsal fascia, and in the cervical region by the nuchal fascia.

This large muscular and tendinous mass varies in size and structure at different parts of the vertebral column. In the sacral region it is narrow and pointed, and at its origin chiefly tendinous in structure.

In the lumbar region it is larger, and forms a thick fleshy mass which, on being followed upward, is subdivided into three columns; these gradually diminish in size as they ascend to be inserted into the vertebræ and ribs.

The erector spinae arises from the anterior surface of a broad and thick tendon, which is attached to the medial crest of the sacrum, to the spinous processes of the lumbar and the eleventh and twelfth thoracic vertebræ, and the supraspinal ligament, to the back part of the inner lip of the iliac crests and to the lateral crests of the sacrum, where it blends with the sacrotuberous and posterior sacroiliac ligaments.

Some of its fibers are continuous with the fibers of origin of the Glutæus maximus.

The muscular fibers form a large fleshy mass which splits, in the upper lumbar region into three columns, viz., a lateral, the Iliocostalis, an intermediate, the Longissimus, and a medial, the Spinalis.

Each of these consists from below upward, of three parts, as follows:

A useful mnemonic for remembering the erector spinae muscles is "I Love Sex" (lateral to medial).