Quick Facts
Origin: Superior margin of cricoid arch.
Insertion: Muscular process of arytenoid cartilage.
Action: Adducts vocal folds.
Innervation: Recurrent laryngeal nerve (CN X).
Arterial Supply: Superior and inferior thyroid arteries.
Related parts of the anatomy
Origin
The lateral cricoarytenoid muscle attaches to the superior margin of cricoid arch.
Insertion
The fibers of the lateral cricoarytenoid muscle run posteriorly in an oblique direction and insert into muscular process of the arytenoid cartilage.
Actions
The lateral cricoarytenoid muscle rotates the arytenoid cartilage medially, which adducts the vocal folds. Adduction of the vocal folds causes shortening and relaxation of the vocal folds (Standring, 2016).
References
Standring, S. (2016) Gray's Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice. Gray's Anatomy Series 41st edn.: Elsevier Limited.
Learn more about this topic from other Elsevier products
Lateral Cricoarytenoid Muscle
The lateral cricoarytenoid muscle joins the superior border of the lateral cricoid cartilage and the muscular process of the arytenoid.
