Anatomy study note · Back
Vertebral column
The central bony pillar of the body. It supports the skull, pectoral girdle, upper limbs and thoracic cage, transmits body weight to the lower limbs through the pelvic girdle, and protects the spinal cord, nerve roots and meninges.
Key points
- 33 vertebrae: C7, T12, L5, S5 (fused), Co ~4.
- Typical vertebra: body + arch (2 pedicles, 2 laminae); 7 processes (1 spinous, 2 transverse, 4 articular).
- Primary curves: thoracic, sacrococcygeal. Secondary: cervical, lumbar.
- Pure dislocation only in the cervical spine (C4/5, C5/6).
- Kyphosis, lordosis, scoliosis; spondylolisthesis usually L5 on S1.
- Vertebra = caudal half of one sclerotome + cranial half of the next.
- Spina bifida: neural arch halves fail to fuse.
- Bone: type I collagen + hydroxyapatite.
- Osteoblast builds, osteocyte maintains, osteoclast resorbs.
The full note in the atlas also covers
Features · Articulations · Action · Histology · Development · Clinical notes
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Written from
- Snell’s Clinical Anatomy by Regions, 10th ed., ch. 2, PDF pp. 124–155
- Inderbir Singh’s Human Embryology, ch. 10, PDF pp. 134–137
- BRS Cell Biology & Histology, 7th ed., ch. 7, PDF pp. 120, 121–125, 130
More from the back
- Atlas (C1)
- Axis (C2)
- Cervical vertebrae
- Deep muscles of the back
- Intervertebral discs
- Ligaments of the vertebral column
- Lumbar vertebrae
- Spinal cord
- Spinal nerves
- Suboccipital muscles
- Thoracic vertebrae
- Thoracolumbar fascia
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