the neck is relatively simple

this is the front

and of course this is the back of the neck this bone happens to be missing on

the model but probably intact in your neck

the cervical spine is essentially a series of vertebra separated in the

front

by the disc

the disc is the shock absorber it allows impact and it will absorb shock and it allows

motion

in the back of the spine we have these paired joints

these joints

guide the motion of the spine forward and backward and side to side

in the center of the spine

is the spinal cord living in that boney tunnel

and at each level in between the vertebra nerve roots exit and either runs

down your shoulder in arms or runs up the back of your head

and these of course intervene or go to the muscles and the skin and give you

sensation

and give you a position sense and also give you more strength

this is a close-up

of a model of the cervical spine it demonstrates the nerve hole that the

nerve exits out of

you'll see that when you bend backwards that nerve hole actually gets smaller

and when you bend forward that nerve hole gets larger that's important if you

have either a bone spur or a disc herniation you won't want to bring

your neck back because that'll hurt your neck shoulder and arm you want to keep

your head a little bit forward

it also works with lateral bending if you bend away from that side

the nerve hole opens up and if you bend toward that side

the nerve hole gets smaller so lateral bending to the side

will cause more pain

lateral bending away from that side

will cause less pain

another important aspect of the cervical spine is the

spinal canal itself where the spinal cord lives this canal changes in shape

with bending forward and backward and if you'll see when you bend forward the

spinal canal actually enlarges by about thirty percent

and when you bend backwards the spinal canal narrows this is important if the

spinal canal is crowded by a disc herniation or by a bone spur if you happen

to have a blow to the head driving the head backward that can cause compression

of the spinal cord and an injury conversely bending forward tends to open the canal

and relieve the pressure on the spinal cord