Biology Visualiser Undergraduate

Back Muscles Explorer

Turn 58 muscle meshes of the back in 3D through the six layers they are dissected in, from trapezius down to the rotatores and interspinales.

Back muscles, 58 structures

Checking this device for a stored copy.

Start here

Hide the bands top down, in order Superficial, then intermediate, then splenius, then erector spinae. That is the order a back is dissected in, and each layer genuinely hides everything beneath it.
Click Erector spinae, then Back Three columns, not one mass. Iliocostalis laterally, longissimus in the middle, spinalis medially. Here iliocostalis comes in cervicis, thoracis and lumborum parts, longissimus in capitis, cervicis and thoracis, and spinalis in cervicis and thoracis only.
Show only the Segmental band The interspinales and intertransversarii, short muscles that join one spinous or transverse process to the next, published as sets rather than one per level. None of them can be seen from outside. The rotatores lie just as deep, but they are in the Transversospinal band.

Muscle only. No vertebrae, no ribs and no thoracolumbar fascia, which is a real absence for this region: the fascia is what latissimus dorsi and the erector spinae actually attach through. The deep muscles cannot be taken apart segment by segment.

58 structures
2795k triangles
14000 KB, on request
0.00511 mm worst error per axis

14 superficial layer
4 intermediate layer
4 splenius
16 erector spinae
13 transversospinal
7 segmental

Where this comes from

Segmented from imaging of one adult male body, not drawn by an artist, so the shapes are measurements. Two consequences worth knowing: it is one person’s anatomy rather than an average, and faint stepping on some surfaces is the resolution of the original scan rather than a rendering fault.

Meshes from BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science, under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. Names and identifiers are the dataset’s own: Foundational Model of Anatomy identifiers and English labels, as its parts list gives them. Converted meshes are shared under the same licence.

Changes made: Meshes were converted from binary STL to an indexed mesh with 16-bit quantised vertex positions, and surface normals were recomputed from the geometry. No vertex was moved other than by that quantisation, whose worst-case error on any one coordinate is reported on the page.

Latin terms for 18 of the 58 structures come from English Wikipedia anatomy infoboxes, under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0, joined by Wikidata property P1402, Foundational Model of Anatomy identifier. Only a term a source states for that structure is used, never one constructed from a family name, which is why the rest carry no Latin rather than a guess.

All 58 structures

Every structure the model contains, group by group and alphabetically within each. Each name opens the viewer with that structure selected, so a link can point at one structure rather than at the whole region.

Superficial layer 14

ascending part of left trapezius muscle
ascending part of right trapezius muscle
descending part of left trapezius muscle
descending part of right trapezius muscle
left latissimus dorsi musculus latissimus dorsi muscle
left levator scapulae musculus levator scapulae muscle
left rhomboid major musculus rhomboideus major muscle
left rhomboid minor musculus rhomboideus minor muscle
right latissimus dorsi musculus latissimus dorsi muscle
right levator scapulae musculus levator scapulae muscle
right rhomboid major musculus rhomboideus major muscle
right rhomboid minor musculus rhomboideus minor muscle
transverse part of left trapezius muscle
transverse part of right trapezius muscle

Intermediate layer 4

left serratus posterior inferior musculus serratus posterior inferior muscle
left serratus posterior superior musculus serratus posterior superior muscle
right serratus posterior inferior musculus serratus posterior inferior muscle
right serratus posterior superior musculus serratus posterior superior muscle

Splenius 4

left splenius capitis musculus splenius capitis muscle
left splenius cervicis musculus splenius cervicis muscle
right splenius capitis musculus splenius capitis muscle
right splenius cervicis musculus splenius cervicis muscle

Erector spinae 16

Transversospinal 13

left cervical rotator muscle
left lumbar rotator muscle
left multifidus musculus multifidus muscle
left semispinalis capitis muscle
left semispinalis cervicis muscle
left semispinalis thoracis muscle
right cervical rotator muscle
right lumbar rotator muscle
right multifidus musculus multifidus muscle
right semispinalis capitis muscle
right semispinalis cervicis muscle
right semispinalis thoracis muscle
thoracic rotator muscle

Segmental 7

set of anterior cervical intertransversarii muscle
set of interspinales cervicis muscle
set of interspinales lumborum muscle
set of interspinales thoracis muscle
set of lateral lumbar intertransversarius muscles muscle
set of medial lumbar intertransversarius muscles muscle
set of posterior cervical intertransversarii muscle

Citing this tool

Last updated 9 October 2026. Add the date you accessed it as well, which a citation of a page that can change asks for. If a specific view matters, cite the page address as it stands in your browser instead: it records what is selected and shown.

Reference

ScienceQuest. (2026). Back Muscles Explorer [Interactive tool]. Retrieved [date] from https://sciencequest.in/tools/back-muscles-3d-explorer/

BibTeX

@misc{sciencequest-back-muscles-3d-explorer,
  author       = {{ScienceQuest}},
  title        = {{Back Muscles Explorer}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://sciencequest.in/tools/back-muscles-3d-explorer/}},
  year         = {2026},
  note         = {Interactive tool, last updated 9 October 2026. Add the date you accessed it as urldate.},
}

Six layers, in dissection order

Trapezius and latissimus dorsi come off first, then the serratus posterior pair, then splenius, then the erector spinae, then the transversospinal group, then the short segmental muscles. The bands follow that order because it is the only order in which a back makes sense, and because each layer really does cover the next.

The practical consequence: the deep muscles are invisible until four bands are hidden, and the model is the fastest way to see what sits under what.

Five muscles that the upper limb also claims

Trapezius in three parts, latissimus dorsi, levator scapulae and both rhomboids move the shoulder girdle, so the dataset files them under the upper limb as well as the back. They are here because this is where a reader looks for them, and the upper limb model excludes them by name so neither claims a muscle the other shows.

Where the detail stops

The rotatores, interspinales and intertransversarii are published as a set per region rather than one per vertebral level, so a mesh is named as a set of interspinales lumborum rather than as separate left and right muscles at each level. Multifidus and each of the three semispinalis muscles are one mesh per side.

So the deep layer is complete as the dataset publishes it and cannot be separated segment by segment. For a region whose deepest muscles span one or two vertebrae each, that is the limit worth knowing.

The back muscles with no bone in the scene: the broad superficial sheets spread to either side and the erector spinae and short segmental muscles along the midline. — 58 muscle meshes of the back in six layers, from trapezius down to the rotatores and interspinales. Image © ScienceQuest, CC BY 4.0, rendered from BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0. Free to reuse with both credits and a link to this page; how to reuse it. Download image

Common questions

Why are the bands called layers?

Because that is how a back is dissected and the only order in which it makes sense. Trapezius and latissimus dorsi come off first, then the serratus posterior pair, then the splenius, then the erector spinae in its three columns, then the transversospinal group, and only then the short segmental muscles against the vertebrae. Hiding the bands in that order reproduces the dissection, and each one genuinely hides everything beneath it.

Why does the trapezius appear here and not with the shoulder?

Because it can only appear once, and this is where people look for it. The dataset files trapezius, latissimus dorsi, levator scapulae and both rhomboids under the upper limb as well, since what they do is move the shoulder girdle. The upper limb model excludes those five muscles, seven meshes a side, by name, so neither model claims a muscle the other is showing.

Why is the erector spinae in three columns?

Because it is three columns, and the single mass drawn in most diagrams is a simplification. Iliocostalis lies laterally, longissimus in the middle and spinalis medially. Here iliocostalis comes in cervicis, thoracis and lumborum parts, longissimus in capitis, cervicis and thoracis parts, and spinalis in cervicis and thoracis parts only, which is what lets you see that the columns overlap in a tiled arrangement rather than running the whole length as one strap.

Are the deep muscles one mesh per segment?

Sometimes, and it is worth knowing which. The rotatores, interspinales and intertransversarii are published as a set per region rather than one per vertebral level, so you get a mesh named as a set of interspinales lumborum rather than individual left and right muscles at each level. Multifidus and each of the three semispinalis muscles are one mesh per side. So the deep layer is complete as published but cannot be taken apart segment by segment.