Vertebral joints (dave's notes) Flashcards
What separates the vertebral bodies?
Intervertebral discs, anterior and posterior lonigtudinal ligaments
What covers the upper and lower surfaces of the vertebral bodies?
Hyaline cartilage
What is the annulus fibroses?
A peripheral ring of concentric perpendicular fibres uniting discs
What is inside the annulus fibrosis? What does this develop from ?
The nucleus pulpous (from embryonic notochord)
Where within the annulus fibrosis is the nucleus pulpous found? What does it absorb?
Initially in the middle, later more posterior. Imbibes water.
If a disc herniates, what nerve roots does it irritate?
The nerve roots one below the disc i.e. S1 nerve irritated by L5 disc, L5/L4, C7/C6
What ligament is anterior to the vertebral column? Where does it initiate and terminate?
The anterior longitudinal ligament extends from the back of the body of the atlas to the sacral canal
What are facet joints? Where does their innervation come from?
Synovial joints, casulated blending with the ligamentum flavum. Their nerve supply is from the nerve of the and the nerve above the segment.
What are ligamentum lava?
Yellow/elastic, join continuous borders of adjacent lamina - from the front of the upper laminae to the back of th slower lamina
What joints the tips of adjacent spinous processes to the ligamentum niche in the neck?
The supraspinous ligament
What unites spinous processes in the lumbar region?
Interspinous ligaments
What are the inter transverse ligaments?
Weak sheets similar to interspinous ligaments, that join transverse processes.
What happens to the vertebral column from superior to inferior?
It narrows. Closed on all sides apart from intervertebral foramina
What do intervertebral foramina allow the passage of
?the spinal nerves, posterior root ganglia and arteries and veins
