Spinal Cord Society of Australia

1 Spinal Nerve 2 Dorsal Root Ganglion 3 Dorsal Root (Sensory) 4 Ventral Root (Motor) 5 Central Canal 6 Grey Matter 7 White Matter

The Spinal Cord Is part of the Central Nervous System and is connected to the brain. From the brain the cord runs down the back and is surrounded and protected by the bony vertebral column. The cord is surrounded by fluid called "Cerebro- Spinal Fluid", that acts as a cushion to protect the delicate nerve tissues.

The anatomy of cord itself, consists of millions of nerve fibres that transmit information to and from the limbs, trunk and organs of the body. Nerves called the spinal nerves or nerve roots come off the spinal cord and pass out between the vertebrae to carry the information from the spinal cord to the rest of the body:

• Cervical nerves (nerves in the neck) supply movement and feeling to the arms, neck and upper trunk.
• Thoracic nerves (nerves in the upper back) supply the trunk and abdomen.
• Lumbar and sacral nerves (from the lower back) supply the legs, the bladder, bowel and sexual organs.

The spinal nerves carry information from different levels (segments) in the spinal cord. Both the nerves and the segments in the spinal cord are numbered in the same way as the vertebrae. So the cervical nerves and spinal cord segments are called C1-C8, the thoracic are T1-T12, lumbar are L1-L5 and sacral are S1-S5.