Spine Basics

If you are having back pain or other problems with your spine, it is helpful to know a good way to take care of these problems. You can look into chiropractic help, physical therapy, and pharmaceutical drug rehabilitation. There are several ways that you can try to treat your back pain, but before you listen to a professional, it is good to know what you are dealing with. This means that you have to learn about your spine, which is why this article might be helpful in your journey to curing your back pain.

To start, you should know how important your spine actually is. Your spine gives your body structural support and protects your spinal cord. The spine has twenty four bones called vertebrae, which are stacked on top of one another.

The spine is divided into five regions that consist of the cervical, the thoracic, the lumbar, the sacrum, and the coccyx. It is also good to know that the spine is capable of complex movements.

The posterior surface of the vertebral column presents in the median line the spinous process. In the cervical region, they are short and horizontal. In the lumbar region they are nearly horizontal. The spinous processes are separated by considerable intervals in the lumbar region, by narrower intervals in the neck, and are closely approximated in the middle of the thoracic region.

You should also know that on either side of the spine processes is the vertebral groove formed by the lamiae in the cervical and lumbar regions, where it is shallow, and by the lamiae and transverse processes in the thoracic region, where it is deep and broad; these grooves lodge the deep muscles of the back.

Between each vertebra is a disc that serves as a spongy cushion that absorbs the shock created when you walk, run, and move. Ligaments hold the vertebrae and discs together and tendons attach muscles to the spine. When you contract your muscles to move your spine, the ligaments are elastic and the spinal column bends and twists.

The spine encloses and protects your spinal cord, the main nerve cord that transmits nerve impulses between your brain and the rest of your body. In a spine, vertebrae are arranged in an S curve, with the cervical section of the spine curving slightly inward, the thoracic section curving slightly outward, and the lumbar section of the spine curving inward.

Keep in mind that the cervical spine in a normal back is the most flexible and mobile region of the spine and enables you to move your head freely from side to side and up and down. Within the cervical region of the spine are two unique vertebrea, the atlas and the axis. You should know that these vertebrae are specially adapted to enable such rotation.

Lateral to the vertebral grooves are the processes, and still more laterally the transverse processes. In the thoracic region, the transverse processes stand backward, on a plane considerably behind that of the same processes in the cervical and lumbar regions. Additionally, in the cervical region, the transverse processes are placed in front of the processes, lateral to the pedicles and between the vertebral foramina.

In the thoracic region they are posterior to the pedicles, vertebral foramina, and particular processes. In the lumbar region they are in front of the processes, but behind the vertebral foramina. The thoracic spine or 'mid back' consists of 12 vertebrae and is located below the cervical section of the spine. The lumbar is located below the thoracic section of the spine. The lower back bears a great deal of the weight of the body and for that reason is particularly vulnerable to back pain. If you are experiencing back pain of sorts, make sure you go to a doctor or chiropractor so that you can discover the root of the problem and a way to ensure that it will fixed. With new technologies in process, you will have a good chance of making your life better by creating a comfortable spine.

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