What is the posterior divisions?

What it is

• The posterior divisions are as a rule smaller than the anterior. They are directed backward, and, with the exceptions of those of the first cervical, the fourth and fifth sacral, and the coccygeal, divide into medial and lateral branches for the supply of the muscles and skin of the posterior part of the trunk. The Cervical Nerves (Nn.
• Cervicales) —The posterior division of the first cervical or suboccipital nerve is larger than the anterior division, and emerges above the posterior arch of the atlas and beneath the vertebral artery. It enters the suboccipital triangle and supplies the muscles which bound this triangle, viz., the Rectus capitis posterior major, and the Obliqui superior and inferior; it gives branches also to the Rectus capitis posterior minor and the Semispinalis capitis.
• A filament from the branch to the Obliquus inferior joins the posterior division of the second cervical nerve. The nerve occasionally gives off a cutaneous branch which accompanies the occipital artery to the scalp, and communicates with the greater and lesser occipital nerves.