Backbone.
Back Pain is the second most common cause, after “Common cold”, for people staying absent from work. And, everyone at some time or the other gets a backache. Some of us get off lightly, while the others have a very hard time fighting it. They have to live with the pain all their life, because this health ailment can turn into chronic back pain. And this severe back pain can be crippling .
To understand the pathology of back pain, a simple explanation and some pictures are given for you to understand about the back bone or the vertebral column, the vertebra and the spinal cord.
Back Bone and Back Pain.
Just imagine, bearing that back pain while lying down, back pain while sitting down, or back pain on standing up, life can become hell. Believe me folks, I have seen patients of back pain living one hell of life. Treatment of back pain by regularly swallowing those pain killers is not the solution, as they too have their side effects.
So, then what? Well, if you read these articles, educate yourself on the various aspects of back pain, follow those simple preventive steps, you can have that active and pain free life till as long as you live. In this first article of Back pain, the anatomy of the spinal cord and the vertebral column is explained and illustrated, in order that you will easily understand the back pain pathology.
What is Back Pain: Well, simply put: It is the pain in the back.
Why does it happen: It happens due to pathological changes in the bones of the vertebral column and/or back muscles, and/or nerves of the back.
Vertebral Column Structure.
The backbone, called the vertebral column or the spinal column consists of a series of bones, called the vertebrae or backbones, placed one on top of another, and extending from the skull to the small of the back. It is situated towards the dorsal part of the torso. Usually, there are in all 33 vertebrae or backbones. The vertebral column has convex and concave curves in the various regions, as shown below.
Picture of the vertebral column.
Vertebrae.
There are five types of vertebrae which have been typed according to their position in the vertebral column. The different vertebrae are shown in the picture of the vertebral column above and explained below.
- Cervical vertebrae are the vertebrae in the neck. They are 7 in number.
- Thoracic vertebrae are the vertebrae of the upper back. They are 12 in number.
- Lumbar vertebrae are the vertebrae of the lower back. They are 5 in number and largest in size
- Sacral vertebrae are the vertebrae of the small of the back and form the sacrum. They are 4 to 5 in number and fuse after the age of 26 years.
- Coccyxgeal vertebrae form the Coccyx, and are at the lowermost end of the vertebral column, where the vertebral column merges with the hip bone. It consists of 3 to 5 vertebrae, fused together.
Inter Vertebral Disc.
The vertebrae are separated by a fibrous cartilage, called the inter vertebral disc ( shown below). This disc acts as a cushion to absorb shock and facilitates the movements of the vertebrae on each other, thereby allowing the various movements of the back, such as bending, etc.
Picture of inter vertebral disc.
Picture of vertebra and spinal cord.
Spinal Cord.
As shown above, the vertebrae form a hollow canal called the spinal canal, through which the spinal cord passes. The spinal canal extends from the brain to the coccyx .and it belongs to the nervous system. The spinal cord lets out nerves through each joint between the vertebrae to feed the corresponding areas, extending from neck to the foot. The diagram below, illustrates this.
According to the location, the spinal cord is divided by nomenclature into five parts
- Cervical spine which forms part of the spine in the cervical region and from which the cervical nerves emerge on either side. They are eight in number.
- Thoracic spine which forms part of the spinal cord in the thoracic region and from which 12 thoracic nerves emerge on either side.
- Lumbar spine which forms part of the spinal cord in the lumber region and from which the fine lumbar nerves emerge on either side.
- Sacral Spine which forms part of the spine in the sacral region and from which five sacral nerves which form the sacral plexus emerge.
Picture of spinal cord and spinal nerves. (click on picture to enlarge).
Useful posts to read on backbone:
1) Back bone 2) Back pain|back pain causes 3) Symptoms 4) Effects of back Pain. 5) Treatment. 6) Prevention
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