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| Latin | Musculi suboccipitales |
|---|---|
| Origin |
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| Insertion |
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| Action |
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| Nerve | Suboccipital nerve (dorsal ramus of C1) (C1) |
| Name | Latin sub, 'below', and occiput, 'back of the head'. |
Palpation
- Client supine; sit at the head of the table and cradle the head in both hands.
- Curl the fingertips up under the base of the skull on either side of the external occipital protuberance, just below the bony ridge.
- Let the weight of the head settle onto the fingertips. These muscles lie under the trapezius, splenius and semispinalis, so feel for general deep firmness rather than single muscles.
- Ask the client to tip the chin up very slightly, then turn the head a little; feel the deep tissue tighten under the fingertips.
The suboccipitals are the deepest muscles at the base of the skull. Clients often find a still, supported hold here very relaxing at the end of a neck routine. You cannot feel them one by one: they lie under Trapezius, Splenius capitis and Semispinalis capitis, so you work them through those layers with slow, sustained Compression.
Three of them outline the suboccipital triangle, which contains the vertebral artery and the suboccipital nerve. Use gentle static pressure here rather than vigorous friction. Wikipedia notes that rectus capitis posterior minor is now thought to act more as a sense organ for head position than as a mover.