Quick Facts
Origin: Cricoid lamina of cricoid cartilage.
Insertion: Muscular process of arytenoid cartilage.
Action: Abducts vocal folds.
Innervation: Recurrent laryngeal nerve (CN X).
Arterial Supply: Superior and inferior thyroid arteries.
Related parts of the anatomy
Origin
The posterior cricoarytenoid muscle, as its name suggests, sits on the posterior aspect of the larynx and arises from the posterior part of the cricoid lamina.
Insertion
The posterior cricoarytenoid muscle courses superiorly and attaches to the muscular process of the arytenoid cartilages on the same side.
Actions
The posterior cricoarytenoid is the only muscle to abduct the vocal folds to open the rima glottidis. It also assists in the lengthening 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
Posterior Cricoarytenoid Muscle
The posterior cricoarytenoid muscle is the only abductor muscle of the larynx.
