Cervical Fasciae and Compartments

00:01 Now let's take a look at the connective tissue coverings of the cervical area or the fascia and the compartments that they enclose.

00:10 Here's a cross section view of the cervical area where we can see a couple of the superficial muscles of the neck, such as the sternocleidomastoid in the trapezius.

00:23 These muscles are encased in something called the investing fascia.

00:29 If we look a little bit more anteriorly, we see the trachea.

00:34 Posterior to that the esophagus.

00:37 We also see the thyroid gland sitting around the trachea and the recurrent laryngeal nerve.

00:44 And all of these structures are encased in something called the pre tracheal fascia.

00:50 This area we would call the visceral compartment, because it's connecting to areas of organs.

00:58 Little more posteriorly, we see all of these muscles called paravertebral muscles surrounding to an attaching to the vertebrae.

01:08 We also have the sympathetic chain in this area.

01:12 And all of these structures are encased in something called the prevertebral fascia.

01:18 Posteriorly this prevertebral fascia is going to become continuous with the nuchal ligament.

01:25 And altogether we consider this the vertebral compartment.

01:30 Now we see some vascular structures such as the internal jugular vein more laterally, and the common carotid artery a bit more medially as well as the vagus nerve or cranial nerve 10.

01:44 And these are all enclosed in something called the carotid sheath and we call this the vascular compartment.