THE SPINE

Anatomy > The Spinal Column

The spinal column extends from the skull to the pelvis. There are 33 individual bones, the vertebrae, which form the spinal column and these are traditionally divided into five regions: cervical, thoracic, lumbar, the sacrum and the coccyx. The first three of these regions are made up of a number of individual bones called vertebrae. There are 7 cervical vertebrae (C1 to C7), 12 thoracic vertebrae (T1 to T12) and 5 lumbar vertebrae (L1 to L5). The sacrum consists of 5 fused vertebrae (S1 to S5) and the coccyx is a single bone sometimes known colloquially as the tail-bone.

The vertebrae are positioned one on top of each other and are separated by discs which act as shock absorbers. The spinal cord and nerves allow messages to travel from the brain to other areas of your body, i.e. the muscles of your legs. The discs, vertebrae, nerves, ligaments, muscles and joints in a healthy back should all work together to allow for mobility whilst maintaining stability.