Encyclopedia > Spine (anatomy)

Article Content

Spine (anatomy)

The spine of a vertebrate is the vertebral column. It is divided, in most land mammals, into five sections: the cervical (neck) section, the thoracic[?] section, the lumbar[?] section, the sacrum, and the tail or coccyx.

The topmost vertebrae of the spine are the Axis and the atlas. These are specially adapted to allow a full range of movement for the skull.

The spine serves two major purposes - firstly, it gives the skeleton its strength by supporting the back, and secondly, it protects the vital spinal cord from damage.

All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!

Featured Article

Quadratic formula

... different solutions x, both of which are real. (Geometrically, this means that the parabola intersects the x-axis in two points.) If the discriminant is negative, then ...