long muscle of neck n.
A muscle whose medial portion arises from the third thoracic to the fifth cervical vertebrae and is inserted into the second to fourth cervical vertebrae, whose superolateral portion arises from the third to the fifth cervical vertebrae and is inserted into the anterior tubercle of the atlas, and whose inferolateral portion arises from the first to the third thoracic vertebrae and is inserted into the fifth and sixth cervical vertebrae; whose nerve supply for all three portions is from the ventral branches of the cervical nerve, and whose action for all three portions twists and bends the neck forward.