Anatomy of the Backbone
Here at the chiropractic office of Dr. Maryam Jafarieh in Fort Lauderdale, we provide holistic care for a number of ailments originating in the back. Chiropractic isn’t just the study of the back; it’s an approach to medicine that focuses on the interplay between the spine and the rest of the body. To understand how it works, patients must first learn about the back’s structure. The spinal cord is a bundle of nerves that travels from the skull through a canal formed by hollow protrusions in the bones that together from the backbone. These bones are called “vertebrae,” and there are twenty-four of them which move individually. The top two are called the atlas and axial vertebrae and are the only articulated vertebrae not separated by a spongy disc. They and the next five bones are the “cervical vertebrae,” those which make up the neck. The twelve which the ribs branch off of are called “thoracic vertebrae” and the five which form the lower back are the “lumbar vertebrae.” Below the lu...