ABSTRACT
We consider only 11 out of all spinal nerves as typical. All others, including the eight cervical, first thoracic, five lumbar, and five sacral spinal nerves are not typical because they participate in the formation of the cervical, brachial, lumbar, and sacral plexuses. Spinal nerves, which form a portion of any plexus, are different from one another in their divisions, connections, and terminal distributions. In contrast, all 11 typical spinal nerves are, with few exceptions, almost identical anatomically in their divisions and distributions. Typical spinal nerves have practically no interconnections, even though their tiny terminal branches do overlap to a certain extent. All acupoints that will be described in this chapter are formed by the typical spinal nerves. Thus, it is useful to define what a typical spinal nerve is. Figure 6.1 is a schematic illustration of a typical spinal nerve.
