Rhomboid Minor

backMusculus rhomboideus minor

The rhomboid minor is a small band just above the rhomboid major, running from the base of the neck to the top of the shoulder blade's inner edge. It pulls the shoulder blade in and slightly up.

Rhomboid minor is a narrow cord of muscle sitting immediately above rhomboid major. It starts at the very base of the neck and runs down and outward to a small point on the shoulder blade's inner edge, where the ridge on the back of the shoulder blade begins.

It pulls in the same direction as rhomboid major but from a slightly steeper angle, so it contributes a little more elevation and a little less tilt. In practice the two work as one muscle and are so continuous that anatomists often cannot cleanly separate them.

It is sometimes fused with rhomboid major and sometimes absent as a distinct band, which is a normal anatomical variation rather than anything unusual. This is one reason gym vocabulary sensibly treats the rhomboids as a single thing.

Training notes

Nothing trains rhomboid minor specifically and nothing needs to. Rowing, band pull-aparts and face pulls train it alongside rhomboid major and the middle trapezius, which is exactly how it works in life.

Because it sits higher and slightly assists elevation, it gets some work from shrugging as well as from retraction — but shrugging is not a substitute for pulling the shoulder blades together, which is its main job.

The practical takeaway for a program is the same as for the rhomboids as a whole: horizontal pulling, finished properly, a couple of times a week.

Anatomy

Origin
  • Lower part of the nuchal ligament and the spinous processes of the seventh cervical and first thoracic vertebrae
Insertion
  • Medial border of the scapula at the root of the scapular spine
Actions
  • Retracts the scapula, drawing it toward the spine
  • Rotates the scapula downward, turning the shoulder socket to face lower
  • Slightly elevates the scapula, alongside the levator scapulae
Innervation
Dorsal scapular nerve (C4–C5)

Exercises

Antagonists

Synergists