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In humans, cervical vertebrae are the smallest of the true vertebrae and can be readily distinguished from those of the thoracic or lumbar regions by the presence of a foramen (hole) in each transverse process, through which the vertebral artery, vertebral veins, and inferior cervical ganglion pass. The remainder of this article focuses upon ...
Cervical spine disorders are illnesses that affect the cervical spine, which is made up of the upper first seven vertebrae, encasing and shielding the spinal cord. This fragment of the spine starts from the region above the shoulder blades and ends by supporting and connecting the skull .
The spinal cord is an estimated 45 centimetres (18 inches) long in males and about 43 cm (17 in) in females. [citation needed] It is ovoid-shaped and is enlarged in the cervical and lumbar regions. The cervical enlargement, stretching from the C4 to T1 vertebrae, is where sensory input comes from and motor output goes to the arms and trunk.
Within the cervical spine, most joints are innervated by the medial branch nerve (a branch of the dorsal rami) from the same levels. In other words, the facet joint between C4 and C5 vertebral segments is innervated by the C4 and C5 medial branch nerves. However, there are two exceptions:
It formed by the coalescence of four ganglia, corresponding to the four upper-most cervical nerves C1–C4. The bodies of its preganglionic sympathetic afferent neurons are located in the lateral horn of the spinal cord. Their axons enter the SCG to synapse with postganglionic neurons whose axons then exit the rostral end of the SCG and proceed ...
Gray rami communicantes – join the anterior rami [citation needed] of the cervical nerves C5–C6, sometimes also C4 and C7. [1] Thyroid branches – pass alongside the inferior thyroid artery to the thyroid gland. [1] Middle cardiac nerve – descends through the neck to reach the cardiac plexus in the thorax. [1]
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Anatomy photo:43:15-0102 at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center - "The Female Pelvis: The Posterolateral Pelvic Wall" Atlas image: n3a6p1 at the University of Michigan Health System - "Autonomic Connections of the Spinal Cord" Diagram at umm.edu