THE SPINE

Anatomy > The Spinal Cord

The spinal cord is about 45cm (18 inches) long, originates at the base of the brain, passes through a hole in the base of the skull known as the foramen magnum and continues down through the vertebral canal until it reaches the first lumbar vertebra (L1). At this point, the cord becomes the Cauda Equina (literally, "horse's tail"), a loose bundle of nerve roots which extends as far as the coccyx. The nerves which lie within the spinal cord (lower motor neurons) carry messages back and forth from the brain to the spinal nerves. These spinal nerves branch off in pairs from the spinal cord at the junction of each vertebra.