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Spinal Injuries
Background
The spinal cord is an extension of the brain, a thick bundle of nerve fibres from which individual nerves branch off to connect the brain with the muscles, skin and internal organs. Nerves carry messages in both directions: from the brain to individual muscles, telling them to move; and from the skin and other organs to the brain, communicating sense of touch, pain, pressure or heat and cold.
The spinal cord is carried in a hollow channel through the centre of the spinal column, a stack of thirty-three bony rings (the vertebrae). As well as containing the vital cord which controls all movement and perception below the level of the neck, the spinal column is the main component of the body's bone structure, connecting together the head, shoulders, chest and pelvis, which are linked in turn to the arms and legs. The spine has to be immensely strong to support the body weight and anything that is lifted; supple to withstand a lifetime of shocks caused by walking, running and jumping; and flexible to allow the trunk and neck to bend and rotate.
Each vertebra is separated from its neighbour by a flat pad of gristle (a disc). The stack of discs and vertebrae make up a hollow channel called the spinal canal. This channel has a silky lining material (the meninges) and is filled with a colourless liquid (cerebro-spinal fluid or CSF) which provides nutrition and further cushioning for the spinal cord. Up the centre of the canal runs the spinal cord itself, about as thick as a finger, grey in colour and about 20 inches long, starting at the base of the brain, and ending in the small of the back in a bundle of nerve roots called, from its appearance, the cauda equina ('horse's tail').
From the spinal cord thirty-one paired spinal nerves branch out to different parts of the body. From the upper part of the cord, these roots connect to the nerves of the upper torso, arms and hands; from the lower cord they lead to the abdomen, thighs, calves and feet.
There are four major divisions of the spinal column:
Cervical (C) or neck region contains the first seven vertebrae and the first eight spinal nerves.
Thoracic (T) or chest region (also sometimes called Dorsal) contains the next twelve vertebrae and twelve spinal nerves.
Lumbar (L) or lower back region, contains the next five vertebrae and five spinal nerves.
Sacral (S) or tailbone region contains the last nine vertebrae fused together into two sections, the sacrum and the coccyx, and containing six spinal nerves.
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