This is a table of skeletal muscles of the human anatomy, with muscle counts and other information.

Table

Table explanation and summary

The muscles are described using anatomical terminology. The columns are as follows: For Origin, Insertion and Action please name a specific Rib, Thoracic vertebrae or Cervical vertebrae, by using C1-7, T1-12 or R1-12.

Summary in numbers

There does not appear to be a definitive source counting all skeletal muscles. Different sources group muscles differently, regarding physical features as different parts of a single muscle or as several muscles. There are also vestigial muscles that are present in some people but absent in others, such as the palmaris longus muscle. There are between 600 and 840 muscles within the typical human body, depending on how they are counted. In the present table, using statistical counts of the instances of each muscle, and ignoring gender-specific muscles, there are 753 skeletal muscles. Sometimes male and females have the same muscle but with different purposes

Numbers based on the list above

Agonistic and antagonistic relationships

Muscles are often paired as agonistic and antagonistic muscles. This can be a bit misleading as, in general, it is groups of muscles working together to either make or cancel a movement. The present table lists some well-known relationships but is not at all complete.

Innervation overview

General references