The diaphragm is classified as a skeletal muscle. Most of
the time it is under involuntary control but we can move it voluntarily at will. It is
shaped like a dome and is the anatomical partition that separates the thoracic and
abdominal cavities. It has a convexity that is upward. During inhalation it contracts
and flattens downward (the opposite of what you would think), which allows the lungs to
expand. When it relaxes it assists with exhalation, it rises to compress the lungs. It
originates from the xiphoid process, the lumbar vertebrae, and the lower fifth or sixth
costal cartilages.
It is immediately superior to the spleen
on the left, the stomach, and the liver on the right. The adrenal glands are very close
inferiorly. In most people the right side is ever so slightly higher than the left. It
receives innervation from the Vagus.
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