The Muscles of Our Face and Neck

By Elizabeth A. Murray, Mount St. Joseph University

Modern science and technology have provided the students of anatomy with an access to virtual autopsy table with the help of a software system called Anatomage. The University of Colorado School of Medicine carried out the Visible Human Project to collect data and prepare a database of cadavers that can be used for studying anatomy.

Facial Muscles

The bones form the framework of the body. Let’s now use that framework and add the muscles for our study of musculoskeletal anatomy of the head and trunk. And we’ll start with the facial muscles.

We can take off the skin and start with the forehead and see this frontalis portion of the occipitofrontalis muscle; that’s the muscle that wrinkles the forehead.

And we can see around the eyes the orbicularis oculi muscle, that lets us close our eye. The outer circular portion causes us to squint and the portion on the eyelid is the one that we use to blink.

Our Smiling Muscle

Around the eyes, we can see corrugator supercilia muscles and those help wrinkle the brow. We can see zygomaticus major and that’s our smiling muscle.

Then there’s orbicularis oris, an orb shaped muscle that runs around the lips for puckering up. And then there is the depressor anguli oris, a frowning muscle, as well as platysma, sometimes called the shaving muscle. It’s within the skin of the neck.

And these muscles largely insert on skin, so they are very different from other skeletal muscles. In the cheek wall, we have the buccinator muscle; that’s what allows us to suck through a straw or to blow a trumpet. And those are some of our major muscles of facial expression. It must be kept in mind that all of them are governed by the facial nerve, which is cranial nerve seven.

This article comes directly from content in the video series How We Move: The Gross Anatomy of Motion. Watch it now, on Wondrium.

Chewing Muscles

Now if we want to go around to the side, we can take a look at some muscles of chewing. The temporalis muscle originates off of the temporal lines of the skull and it inserts down on the coronoid process of the mandible. It helps us to close the jaw.

And a big powerful muscle, the masseter is on the mandible itself and inserts on the zygomatic arch. Both of those are involved in closing the jaw and clenching the teeth. The pterygoid muscles are deeper, and we’d have to take off portions of the jaw to show those.

Muscles of the Neck

So, now let’s take a look at some muscles within the neck itself and we’ll start by taking off platysma so we can see some of these deeper muscles. First is the sternocleidomastoid. As its name implies, it runs from the sternum and clavicle up to the mastoid process.

We can see here when both of those muscles are used, we flex the neck, but when one is used, we get that contralateral action of pointing the face toward the opposite side.

What Helps in Flexing Our Neck?

Let’s turn a little more to the side, and we can see trapezius posteriorly. These two muscles—trapezius and sternocleidomastoid—are both supplied by cranial nerve 11, the spinal accessory nerve.

Now if we take off sternocleidomastoid, we can see the scalene muscles in this area. The scalene muscles when used on one side will tilt the head laterally, but when both are used can help flex the neck. There’s an anterior scalene, a middle scalene, and a posterior scalene muscle.

The infrahyoid muscles go largely between the sternum and the hyoid bone and they help to press the hyoid bone. Tucked underneath the chin, we could see the super hyoid muscles and those are small muscles of the neck that really are more concerned with movements of the hyoid bone and the larynx, such as in swallowing.

Common Questions about the Face and Neck Muscles

Keep Reading
The Thigh’s Medial Compartment Muscles
Digging Deep into Our Facial Muscles
Something to ‘Chew’ on: The Muscles of the Jaw