The cervical spine–that is, the upper seven of our vertebrae–must surely rank among the most under appreciated yet most vital parts of our body.  Its 37 separate joints allow the head and neck to move atop the torso, all the while obeying constant commands from the special senses and reflex mechanisms.

Look at it this way:  The cervical spine holds up our 9-16 pound heads for between 14-16 hours a day. This is hardly easy.

The head’s weight can become unbearable over time.  If you’d like to get a clearer picture, try this:  hold a 12-14 pound bowling ball in your hand with your elbow on a table for as long as you can. (Few poeple can keep this up longer than an hour.)

That means the cervical spine is a vital part of nearly all our everyday activities.  Speaking, gesturing, sitting, standing, lying down, and breathing involve the cervical spine. Most of what our head can do is thanks to the cervical spine.

That’s why many of the injuries to this are are serious, resulting in paralysis or death. For example, hitting your head on the bottom of the pool can compress the cervical spine and cause grave injury.

You’ll be happy to know that we chiropractors have led the way in recognizing the cervical spine’s uniqueness and careing for it accordingly.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 18th, 2009 at 6:44 am and is filed under 1. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.