Cervical vertebrae

At a glance

English

Cervical vertebrae

Latin (TA2)

Vertebrae cervicales

System

Bone

Region

Neck

In order

From the atlas (c1) to the vertebra c7

Own pages

Atlas (C1), Axis (C2)

About the cervical vertebrae

The cervical vertebrae are the seven bones of the neck, numbered C1 to C7 from the skull downward. They are the smallest and most mobile vertebrae in the column. Every one of them can be recognised by a foramen transversarium, a hole in each transverse process; in the upper six these openings line up to carry the vertebral artery and vein, with a sympathetic nerve plexus, up towards the skull.

C3 to C6 follow a common plan. The body is small and wider than it is deep, with raised lips on the sides of its upper surface that fit into notches on the vertebra above. The canal is large and triangular, and the spine is short and usually split into two points. Each transverse process has a front bar, the costal element that matches a rib, and a back bar, the true transverse process, ending in anterior and posterior tubercles with a gutter between them for the spinal nerve. The articular facets are flat ovals stacked into a pillar of bone on each side. Because the spines are short, the trapezius and splenius capitis anchor instead to the nuchal ligament, a band running down the back of the neck to these spines.

Three members break the pattern. The atlas has no body and is a ring that holds the skull; the axis carries the dens on which the atlas turns; and C7 has a long spine that can be felt at the base of the neck. Nodding the head takes place mostly between the skull and the atlas, and turning it mostly at the atlanto-axial joint. The cervical nerves leave above the vertebra of the same number.

Wear-and-tear changes such as disc narrowing and bony spurs (cervical spondylosis) are common with age. Injuries cluster at C2 and at C4 to C5, and a high cord injury can paralyse the limbs and the diaphragm. The vertebrae also serve as level markers: the hyoid lies near C3, the common carotid artery divides at about C4, and at C6 the larynx gives way to the trachea and the pharynx to the oesophagus.