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| Latin | Musculus teres minor |
|---|---|
| Origin |
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| Insertion |
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| Action |
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| Nerve | Axillary nerve (C5–C6) |
| Name | Latin teres, 'rounded', and minor, 'smaller' — the smaller of the two round muscles on the lateral border of the scapula. |
Palpation
- Client prone with the arm hanging off the side of the table, or side-lying with the arm resting on the body.
- Find the lateral border of the scapula about halfway up, just above teres major.
- Roll your fingers across the border to feel a small, round, cord-like muscle running up and out towards the back of the shoulder.
- Ask the client to rotate the arm outwards against light resistance; teres minor tightens, while teres major just below it stays soft.
Teres minor is the “T” in SITS, the four rotator cuff muscles (Supraspinatus, Infraspinatus, teres minor and Subscapularis). It is the only cuff muscle supplied by the axillary nerve, which it shares with the Deltoid. It often blends with infraspinatus and does the same job, lateral rotation.
Students often confuse it with Teres major, which lies just below it near the Inferior angle of scapula. The two rotate the arm in opposite directions, so a resisted rotation test tells them apart: teres minor firms with lateral rotation, teres major with medial rotation. The long head of Triceps brachii passes between them.