Two years into an Arctic expedition, they were forced to abandon ship a thousand miles north of Siberia. The Best Nonfiction Books of 2014 William OâConnor December 14, 2014 Going to the library was like a treasure hunt, an expedition.
The vertebral column, also known as the backbone or spine, is part of the axial skeleton. The vertebral column is the defining characteristic of a vertebrate, in which the notochord (a flexible rod of uniform composition) found in all chordates has been replaced by a segmented series of bonesâvertebrae separated by intervertebral discs.
Anatomy of the Spine. The normal anatomy of the spine is usually described by dividing up the spine into three major sections: the cervical, the thoracic, and the lumbar spine. (Below the lumbar spine is a bone called the sacrum, which is part of the pelvis). Each section is made up of individual bones, called vertebrae. There are 7 cervical vertebrae, 12 thoracic vertebrae, and 5 lumbar vertebrae. An individual vertebra is made up of several parts.