How many vertebrae does the human spine have?

The spine is very important to humans because there is a spinal cord inside the spine. Once there is a problem with the spinal cord, life functions will end. This is why people must be careful not to hurt their spine during exercise, otherwise it is likely to cause lifelong paralysis. In life, many people don't know much about the spine. So how many segments does the human spine have?

The human spine is divided into five parts: cervical vertebrae, thoracic vertebrae, lumbar vertebrae, sacral vertebrae, and coccygeal vertebrae. There are 7 cervical vertebrae, 12 thoracic vertebrae, 5 lumbar vertebrae, and 10 sacral vertebrae and coccygeal vertebrae. The human spine has a total of 34 vertebrae from top to bottom.

The spine is the pillar of the body. It is located in the middle of the back, with the upper end connected to the skull and the lower end reaching the tip of the coccyx.

The spine is divided into five sections: cervical, thoracic, lumbar, sacral and coccygeal. The upper part is long and movable, like a bracket, hanging the chest wall and abdominal wall; the lower part is short and relatively fixed. The weight of the body and the shock it receives are transmitted to the lower limbs.

The spine is composed of vertebrae and intervertebral discs and is a very flexible and mobile structure. The shape of the spine can change considerably with the movement loads of the body. The mobility of the spine depends on the integrity of the intervertebral discs and the harmony between the articular processes of the related vertebrae.

The length of the spine is composed of vertebral bodies, 3/4, and intervertebral discs, 1/4.

structure

The spine is composed of 26 vertebrae, namely 24 vertebrae (7 cervical vertebrae, 12 thoracic vertebrae, 5 lumbar vertebrae), 1 sacrum, and 1 coccyx. Since the sacrum is composed of 5 bones and the coccyx is composed of 4 bones, the normal spine can also be composed of 33 bones.

Such a large number of vertebrae can maintain a considerable stability because they are surrounded by strong ligaments, and because they are connected to each other by intervertebral joints, they have a considerable degree of mobility. Although the range of motion of each vertebra is very small, if all of them move together, the range increases a lot.

The front of the spine is made up of stacked vertebrae, and its front is adjacent to the thoracic and abdominal internal organs. It not only protects the organs themselves, but also protects the nerves and blood vessels to the organs, with only a thin layer of loose tissue separating them. When the vertebral body is destroyed, pus may accumulate in the back of the pharynx in the neck, or descend along the neck to the infraclavicular fossa, or along the brachial plexus to the axilla; in the chest, it may follow the intercostal nerves to the chest wall, or may spread to the mediastinum; in the waist, it may descend along the psoas major fascia to form a psoas major abscess, which may flow to the lower groin, or bypass the lesser trochanter of the femur to the buttocks.

The back of the spine is composed of the vertebral arches, lamina, transverse processes and spinous processes of each vertebra. They are connected to each other by ligaments, and their superficial surface is only covered with muscles. They are relatively close to the body surface and easy to feel. Lesions on the posterior spine tend to penetrate the skin.

The vertebral canal is located between the front and back of the spine, which contains the spinal cord. When the surrounding bony structures such as vertebral bodies, vertebral arches, and lamina invade the vertebral canal due to fractures or other lesions, it can cause spinal cord compression. Even just a small amount of bleeding and granulation tissue can cause paraplegia.