Shortened Anatomy Lesson

With each of my patients I am constantly educating them on the body and how they can make it healthier. After 12 visits I give them a 2 minute quiz on 10 questions they should know that would benefit their health. One of the questions I ask is, How many vertebrae are in your neck?. Their answers range from 2 - 12. Rarely does a patient put down the correct answer. I figured that if they do not know the anatomy of our body then the general population probably feels the same. Here is a quick rundown of what your spine looks like:

Vertebrae in Neck called Cervicals=   7

Vertebrae in Mid-Back called Thoracics= 12

Vertebrae in Low Back called Lumbars = 5

The vertebrae I listed make up the movable vertebrae of the spine. I bolded the word moveable because we must constantly be moving our spine to keep our discs healthy. Next week I will talk about the discs and how vital it is we keep moving to keep them healthy.