Page 231 - Critical Care Nursing Demystified

216 CRITICAL CARE NURSING DeMYSTIFIED

The spinal nerves are attached to the spinal cord by a dorsal and a ventral
root. The dorsal root is an afferent pathway that carries sensory impulses from
the body into the spinal cord. The ventral root is an efferent pathway that car-
ries motor information from the spinal cord to the body. Spinal nerves are
attached to the spinal cord in pairs (see Figure 5–2). There are 8 cervical, 12
thoracic, 5 lumbar, 5 sacral, and 1 pair of coccygeal spinal nerves. Now that we
have had a brief overview of the neurological anatomy and physiology, a neu-
rological assessment is much more understandable.

First
cervical C 1
vertebra C 2
C 3
C 4 Cervical
C 5 nerves
C
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thoracic C 7 8
vertebra T 1
T
2
T 3
T 4 Thoracic
T 5 nerves
T
6
T
7
T 8
T 9
T
10
T 11
First
lumbar T 12
vertebra L 1
L Lumbar
2
nerves
Cauda L 3
equina L 4
L 5
S
S 1
S 2 Sacral
3
S nerves
4
S 5
Sacrum
Coccyx
FIGURE 5–2 • Spinal cord.