Pharyngeal constrictors
Head & throat
Deep muscle — it lies under other muscles. X-ray makes the muscles over it see-through.
- Origin
- Superior: pterygoid hamulus, pterygomandibular raphe and mandible; middle: hyoid bone and stylohyoid ligament; inferior: thyroid and cricoid cartilages
- Insertion
- Pharyngeal raphe, a midline seam at the back of the pharynx (the superior also to the base of the skull)
- Action
- Squeeze the pharynx from top to bottom, pushing swallowed food down to the oesophagus
- Nerve supply
- Pharyngeal plexus of the vagus nerve (CN X)
Three overlapping curved sheets of muscle forming the back and sides of the throat, stacked like nested cups. They contract in sequence from top to bottom during swallowing, pushing food down into the oesophagus.
Pharyngeal constrictors anatomy page →