A & P - Skeletal System, Vertebral Column

Front 1

Into which 5 sections is the adult vertebral column divided?

Back 1

1) Cervical spine

2) Thoracic spine

3) Lumbar spine

4) Sacrum

5) Coccyx

Front 2

How many cervical vertebrae are there?

Back 2

7

Front 3

How many thoracic vertebrae are there?

Back 3

12

Front 4

How many lumbar vertebrae are there?

Back 4

5

Front 5

How many sacral vertebrae are there in an adult?

How many are there in a child?

Back 5

In an adult, 1 (the sacrum)

In a child there are 5 sacral vertebrae but they fuse together as the child grows.

Front 6

How many coccygeal vertebrae are there in an adult?

How many are there in a child?

Back 6

In an adult, 1 (the coccyx)

In a child there are 4 coccygeal vertebrae but they fuse together as the child grows.

Front 7

Describe the normal curves of the adult spine.

Back 7

Cervical spine - concave

Thoracic spine - convex

Lumbar spine - concave

Sacral spine - convex

This, however, depends on your point of view.

Front 8

The structures of a typical vertebra can be divided into three categories. What are they?

Back 8

1) The body
2) The vertebral arch
3) The processes

Front 9

Two pairs of which structures form the vertebral arch?

Back 9

The pedicles (thick structures projecting posteriorly from the body)

The laminae (thin structures coming together to form the posterior portion of the arch)

Front 10

What is the vertebral foramen?

What is the vertebral canal?

Back 10

The vertebral foramen is the space within the vertebral arch of a single vertebra.

All of these spaces lined up with one another form the vertebral canal.

Front 11

How many processes arise from each vertebral arch?

Back 11

7

Spinous and transverse processes - attachment points for muscles

Articular processes - joints between the vertebrae themselves

Front 12

List the 7 processes that arise from each vertebral arch.

Back 12

Spinous process x1

Transverse processes x2

Superior articular processes x2

Inferior articular processes x2

Front 13

What is the name of the articulating surface of an articular process?

Back 13

Facet

Front 14

Describe the way in which two vertebrae come together at their articular processes.

Back 14

The inferior processes of the superior vertebra articulate with the superior processes of the inferior vertebra.

Front 15

What is a facet?

Back 15

The articulating surface of an articulating process.

Front 16

What part of a vertebra is the weight-bearing part of the vertebra?

Back 16

The body

Front 17

What are pedicles?

Back 17

Thick structures projecting posteriorly from body to form half of the vertebral arch

Front 18

What are laminae?

Back 18

Thin structures coming together posteriorly to form the posterior portion of the vertebral arch

Front 19

Where structure do the articular processes come off?

Back 19

The vertebral arch

Front 20

What is the name of the first cervical vertebra?

Back 20

The atlas

Front 21

What is the intervertebral foramen?

Back 21

Space between the vertebral arches of neighbouring vertebrae

Front 22

What is the name of the first cervical vertebra?

What is the name of the second cervical vertebra?

Back 22

Atlas

Axis

Front 23

What is the atlas? Why is it called the atlas?

Back 23

First cervical vertebra, named after the mythological Atlas who carried the weight of the entire world on his shoulders

Front 24

What is the odontoid?

Back 24

A peglike process, also called the dens, that projects superiorly from the body of the axis into the vertebral foramen of the atlas.

Front 25

What is the dens?

Back 25

Another name for the odontoid, a peglike process that projects superiorly from the body of the axis into the vertebral foramen of the atlas.

Front 26

What is the difference between the vertebral foramen, the intervertebral foramen, and the vertebral (spinal) canal?

Back 26

Vertebral foramen - space between vertebral arch and body of a single vertebra (not visible laterally)

Intervertebral foramen - space between the vertebral arches of two neighbouring vertebrae (visible laterally)

Vertebral canal - the canal formed by the combined vertebral foramens through which the spinal cord runs

Front 27

Describe the structure of the atlas.

Back 27

No body, just an anterior and posterior arch.

The dens/odontoid of the axis projects superiorly into the vertebral foramen of the atlas.