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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 ...
The number of vertebrae in a region can vary but overall the number remains the same. In a human spinal column, there are normally 33 vertebrae. [3] The upper 24 pre-sacral vertebrae are articulating and separated from each other by intervertebral discs, and the lower nine are fused in adults, five in the sacrum and four in the coccyx, or tailbone.
The spinal nerves arise from the spinal column. The top section of the spine is the cervical section, which contains nerves that innervate muscles of the head, neck and thoracic cavity, as well as transmit sensory information to the CNS. The cervical spine section contains seven vertebrae, C-1 through C-7, and eight nerve pairs, C-1 through C-8.
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:
Articular processes [permanent dead link ] - BlueLink Anatomy - University of Michigan Medical School; Atlas image: back_bone28 at the University of Michigan Health System - "Lumbar Vertebral Column, Posterolateral View" Anatomy figure: 02:01-09 at Human Anatomy Online, SUNY Downstate Medical Center - "Superior and lateral views of typical ...
Spinal stenosis is a narrowing of the canal which can occur in any region of the spine and can be caused by a number of factors. It may result in cervical myelopathy [4] if the narrowed canal impinges on the spinal cord itself. Spinal canal endoscopy can be used to investigate the epidural space, and is an important spinal diagnostic technique ...
In the neck region the ligaments are thin, but broad and long; they are thicker in the thoracic region, and thickest in the lumbar region. They are thinnest between the atlas bone (C1) and the axis bone (C2), and may be absent in some people. They become longer inferiorly in the cervical spine, as the distance between adjacent laminae increases ...