Medical Term:
long thoracic nerve
Definition: arises from the fifth, sixth, and seventh cervical nerves (roots of brachial plexus), descends the neck behind the brachial plexus, and is distributed to the serratus anterior muscle; it is somewhat unusual in that it courses on the superficial aspect of the muscle it supplies; its paralysis results in “winged scapula.”
Synonym(s): nervus thoracicus longusTA, Bell respiratory nerve, external respiratory nerve of Bell, posterior thoracic nerve
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