Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The inferior processes or postzygapophysis project downward from a higher vertebra, and their articular surfaces are directed more or less forward and outward. The articular surfaces are coated with hyaline cartilage. In the cervical vertebral column, the articular processes collectively form the articular pillars. These are the bony surfaces ...
The atlas is the topmost vertebra and the axis (the vertebra below it) forms the joint connecting the skull and spine. The atlas and axis are specialized to allow a greater range of motion than normal vertebrae. They are responsible for the nodding and rotation movements of the head.
The twelfth thoracic vertebra has the same general characteristics as the eleventh, but may be distinguished from it by its inferior articular surfaces being convex and directed lateralward, like those of the lumbar vertebrae; by the general form of the body, laminae, and spinous process, in which it resembles the lumbar vertebrae; and by each ...
one spinous process; two transverse processes; four articular processes; A major part of a vertebra is a backward extending spinous process (sometimes called the neural spine) which projects centrally. [7] This process points dorsally and caudally from the junction of the laminae. [7] The spinous process serves to attach muscles and ligaments.
In the thoracic spine the facet joints function to restrain the amount of flexion and anterior translation of the corresponding vertebral segment and function to facilitate rotation. Cavitation of the synovial fluid within the facet joints is responsible for the popping sound ( crepitus ) associated with manual spinal manipulation, commonly ...
The upper cervical spine has a curve, convex forward, that begins at the axis (second cervical vertebra) at the apex of the odontoid process or dens and ends at the middle of the second thoracic vertebra; it is the least marked of all the curves. This inward curve is known as a lordotic curve. A thoracic spine X-ray of a 57-year-old male.
The transverse process of a thoracic vertebra also articulates at the transverse costal facet with the tubercle of the rib of the same number. The crest gives attachment to the intra-articular ligament. [5] The neck of the rib is the flattened part that extends laterally from the head. The neck is about 3 cm long.
Two convex facets from the head attach to two adjacent vertebrae, at the inferior costal facet of the superior vertebra, and the superior costal facet of the inferior vertebra respectively. This forms the synovial planar (gliding) joint. The ligaments of the joints are: Intra-articular ligament of head of rib; Radiate ligament of head of rib