If you would seek health, look first to the spine – Socrates
A little about spines from the chiropractors at our Baulkham Hills Clinic.
There are lots of sayings about the spine. “Grow a backbone”, “put your back into it”, even, famously, “a shiver waiting for a spine to crawl up”. But we often don’t give much thought to the structure that holds us upright, allows us to move and keeps us strong. May is Spinal Health Month, so – being chiropractors – we are going to talk about spines.
Firstly, lets talk about the bones. We’ll leave the nerves and muscles for another day.
The spine consists of 26 bones – 24 vertebrae, the sacrum and the coxcyx – or tailbone. These bones can be divided into 5 parts:
- The Cervical Spine – there are 7 vertebrae in the upper part of the spine, or neck. These are the thinnest and most delicate of the vertebrae, despite the fact they hold up a head which weighs around 4.5-5kgs!
- The Thoracic Spine – these 12 vertebrae each provide an anchor for a pair of ribs, so they are strong and stable
- The Lumbar Spine – this is the lower back and consists of 5 vertebrae. The whole weight of the upper body rests on these vertebrae
- The Sacral – a flat triangular bone that is wedged between the two hip bones
- The Coccygeal – the human tailbone, which is an evolutionary left-over from when we actually had tails! This bone is the anchor point for the pelvic and gluteal muscles.