Spine

 

"Spine" to a neurosurgeon means the vertebral bones and discs that make up the vertebral column and the attached muscles that hold the body back erect as well as the nervous tissue (spinal cord and nerve roots) located within the spinal canal and neural foramina.

Vertebral column

Spinal cord

Nerve roots

Spinal segments

Common to both the bony and nervous spine is segmentation.   Each segment of the body is protected by one in a segmented series of vertebral bodies and supplied by one level in the spinal cord (or spinal nerve root).

The spine is divided into four major divisions along its rostrocaudal (head to toe) axis.  The Cervical spine is the portion in the neck.  The Lumbar spine is that part in the low back.  Most neurosurgical spine procedures are done for problems of the cervical or lumbar spine.

Cervical spine

Lumbar spine

Back pain

Spinal cord tracts - Terms in Plain English

Spinal canal - Terms in Plain English

Myelopathy - Terms in Plain English

Myelopathy - Diagnosis of Neurologic Disease

Spinal cord tumors - Terms in Plain English

Spinal cord stimulation - Terms in Plain English

Spine surgery Specialty Center

 

 
Vertebral column Spinal cord
  figure: spinal cord (external view) 

figure: spinal cord (axial, cross sectional view)

 

 

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