Your Spine and Your Health

The importance of the correct functioning of your spine cannot be over-emphasized.

Let's take a look some key information about your spine in order to appreciate the primary roles your spine plays in your overall health and well-being.

Your spine has four functions:

1. It houses and protects your spinal cord.
2. It supports your hips and shoulders.
3. It provides an attachment point for many of your muscles.
4. It supports your head and ribs.

Humans have 24 vertebrae, plus the sacrum and coccyx (tailbone). Certain animals, like cats, have a great deal more.

These are grouped into three families:

• The seven Cervical (neck) vertebrae
• The twelve Thoracic (mid-back) vertebrae
• The five Lumbar vertebrae.  These are the largest, and they support the weight of your entire upper body through the vertebrae above them.

Lastly, the sacrum is composed of five (former) vertebrae which evolution has fused together.

Scientists have traced the nerve pathways from the point the nerves emerge from each of the vertebrae, and so have "mapped" the areas of the body affected by damage or irritation to each of these nerve bundles.