Teres major muscle

The teres major (Latin for " large round muscle " or " large circular muscle ") is a skeletal muscle of the upper arm. It is located on the back of the human body, wherein the quadrupeds mammals at the inside behind the shoulder. The muscle is involved in the formation of the shoulder gaps.

In humans, it draws on a common terminal tendon of the latissimus dorsi muscle through the armpit to the front of the humerus. Between this tendon and the bone there is a bursa (Bursa musculi subtendinea teretis Majoris ), which serves as a sliding during approach of the arm. Here, the teres major is above ( cranial) of the musculus latissimus dorsi.

Function

Through the course of the muscle can rotate the arm inward ( internal rotation ), pull backwards ( retroversion ), and when the arm was moved laterally away from the body it back to the body use ( adduction).

In the four-footed mammals in the muscle acts as a flexor of the shoulder joint and back as leader of the forelimb.

Innervation

In humans, the teres major from the thoracodorsal nerve and / or the nerve subscapularis, rarely also innervated by the axillary nerve. In the four-footed mammals it is generally supplied by the axillary nerve.