ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a broad coverage of key topics regarding human spine anatomy. For practical purposes, the human spine is subdivided in regions that share anatomic and functional similarities. The cervical spine has a lordotic curvature and is composed of seven vertebrae designated C1 through C7. The more caudal aspect of the spine is the sacrococcygeal area, composed of five fused sacral vertebrae and up to four separate coccygeal bones. The ligaments provide different degrees of stability to the spine depending on many biomechanical parameters beyond intrinsic strength or the number of segments each particular ligament spans. The craniocervical region has an additional set of ligaments worth mentioning separately. The spinal nerves travel laterally into the spinal foramina. Sensory nerves entering the spine have their cell bodies in the dorsal root ganglion and project to the dorsal root entry zone of the spinal cord.
