Definition of "sternocleidomastoid" []

• Either of two muscles of the neck that serve to flex and rotate the head. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "When the sternocleidomastoid muscle in her neck feels like steel, I pull it gently with my fingers to lengthen it."
• "In order of importance, they are: your diaphragm, the primary mover, a mushroom-shaped dome at the base of your ribs your intercostals (external and internal), which connect your ribs your sternocleidomastoid, at the front of your neck, and your scalenes, at the sides of your neck"
• "A frequent finding in pediatrics is a row of small, firm, slightly enlarged lymph nodes along the front edge of the sternocleidomastoid muscle in the neck -- the "anterior chain.""