Posts
A man goes to the doctor with a long history of migraine headaches. When the doctor does his history and physical, he discovers that his poor patient has had practically every therapy known to man for his migraines and STILL no improvement.
"Listen," says the Doc, "I have migraines too, and the advice I'm going to give you isn't really anything I learned in medical school, but it's advice that I've gotten from my own experience. When I have a migraine, I go home, get in a nice hot bathtub, and soak for a while. Then I have my wife sponge me off with the hottest water I can stand, especially around the forehead. This helps a little. Then I get out of the tub, take her into the bedroom, and even if my head is killing me, I force myself to have sex with her. Almost always, the headache is immediately gone. Now, give it a try, and come back and see me in six weeks."
Six weeks later, the patient returns with a big grin.
"Doc! I took your advice and it works! It REALLY WORKS! I've had migraines for 17 years and this is the FIRST time anyone has ever helped me!"
"Well," says the physician, "I'm glad I could help."
"By the way, Doc," the patient adds, "you have a REALLY nice house."
"Listen," says the Doc, "I have migraines too, and the advice I'm going to give you isn't really anything I learned in medical school, but it's advice that I've gotten from my own experience. When I have a migraine, I go home, get in a nice hot bathtub, and soak for a while. Then I have my wife sponge me off with the hottest water I can stand, especially around the forehead. This helps a little. Then I get out of the tub, take her into the bedroom, and even if my head is killing me, I force myself to have sex with her. Almost always, the headache is immediately gone. Now, give it a try, and come back and see me in six weeks."
Six weeks later, the patient returns with a big grin.
"Doc! I took your advice and it works! It REALLY WORKS! I've had migraines for 17 years and this is the FIRST time anyone has ever helped me!"
"Well," says the physician, "I'm glad I could help."
"By the way, Doc," the patient adds, "you have a REALLY nice house."
The backbone can be divided into five regions, starting with the uppermost, or cervical region, which normally has seven vertebrae. Next down is the thoracic (chest) section, normally with12 vertebrae. From each vertebra a rib extends to curl protectively around the chest area. Usually, the top ten ribs come all the way around the trunk and attach to the breast-bone (or sternum); but the bottom two ribs do not reach the breastbone and thus called floating ribs. The thoracic section also must support the shoulder gridle, consisting of collarbones (clavicles) and shoulder blades (scapulas). At the end of each shoulder blade is a shoulder joint - actually three distinct joints working together - where the arm connects to the axial skeleton.
Below the thoracic vertebrae come the five vertebrae of lumbar section. This area gets a good deal of blame for miseries: lower back pain often occurs around the area where the bottom thoracic vertebra joins the top lumbar vertebra. Furthermore, the lumbar region or small of the back is also a well-know site of back pain; indeed, from the word "lumbar" comes lumbago, medically an imprecise term, but popularly used to describe very real back pain.
Below the lumbar region are two vertebrae so completely different from the 24 above them - and even from each other- that it seems strange they are called vertebrae at all: the sacrum and the coccyx. These two vertebrae are both made up of several distinct vertebrae that are present at birth. The sacrum is a large bone that was once five vertebrae. The coccyx was originally four vertebrae- and, incidentally, is all that remains of man's tail in his evolution from primates.
Below the thoracic vertebrae come the five vertebrae of lumbar section. This area gets a good deal of blame for miseries: lower back pain often occurs around the area where the bottom thoracic vertebra joins the top lumbar vertebra. Furthermore, the lumbar region or small of the back is also a well-know site of back pain; indeed, from the word "lumbar" comes lumbago, medically an imprecise term, but popularly used to describe very real back pain.
Below the lumbar region are two vertebrae so completely different from the 24 above them - and even from each other- that it seems strange they are called vertebrae at all: the sacrum and the coccyx. These two vertebrae are both made up of several distinct vertebrae that are present at birth. The sacrum is a large bone that was once five vertebrae. The coccyx was originally four vertebrae- and, incidentally, is all that remains of man's tail in his evolution from primates.
A man hasn't been feling well, so he goes to his doctor for a complete checkup.
Afterward the doctor comes out with the results.
"I'm afraid I have some very bad news," the doctor says. "You're dying, and you don't have much time left."
"Oh, that's terrible!" says the man. "How long have I got?"
"Ten," the doctor says sadly.
"Ten?" the man asks. "Ten what? Months? Weeks? What?!"
"Nine..."
Afterward the doctor comes out with the results.
"I'm afraid I have some very bad news," the doctor says. "You're dying, and you don't have much time left."
"Oh, that's terrible!" says the man. "How long have I got?"
"Ten," the doctor says sadly.
"Ten?" the man asks. "Ten what? Months? Weeks? What?!"
"Nine..."
Although they will have features in common, no two of our 26 vertebrae are exactly alike in shape, size, or function. This is hardly surprising if we consider, for example, that the cervical vertebrae do not supports ribs, while the thoracic vertebrae (upper trunk, or chest) do support them.
But for a sample vertebra, let us pick a rib-carrying vertebra, if for no other reason than that it lies about midway along the backbone. If viewed from above or below, a thoracic vertebra, like most of the others, would look like a roundish piece of bone with roughly scalloped edges on the side facing outward toward the surface of the back, and would reveal several bony projections. These knobby portions of a vertebra- some of which you can feel as bumps along your backbone- are called processes. They serve as the vertebra's points of connection to muscles and tendons, to ribs, and to other vertebrae above and below.
A further conspicuous feature is a hole, more or less in the middle of the typical vertebra, through which passes the master nerve bundle of our bodies, the spinal cord, running from the base if the skull to the top of the pelvis. thus, one of the important functions of the backbone is to provide flexible, protective tubing for the spinal cord.
Between the bones of one vertebra and the next is a piece of more resilient cartilage that acts as a cushion or shock absorber to prevent two or vertebrae from scraping or bumping each other if the backbone gets a sudden jolt, or as the backbone twist and turns and bends. these pieces of cartilage are the inter vertebral disk- infamous for pain and misery if they become ruptured or slipped disks.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
