What are the different areas of the spinal cord, and what are their functions?
There are tracks that come from the brain. Those include the cortices, the basal ganglia, coordination areas in the cerebellum, the medulla oblongata; all of those are going down. The spinal cord gray matter has neurons that connect from the outside and they have neurons that connect from the inside. The sensory neurons are going to be in the posterior part of the cord, or the back of it, and the motor neurons are going to be in the ventral part, or the front of the cord. So, that's it, and it's regional. The cervical cord has the motor neurons for your upper extremities but also has fibres that have come from your lower extremities, because they're on their way up, and they're going from your brain to the lower extremities. The fibres in the cervical cord will be from both, but the motor neurons are going to be for your hands. The thorasic cord controls your intercostal; your muscles that are for breathing. Then the lumbar cord is basically for your lower extremities' motor neurons. You realise the your spinal cord stops at the end of your rib cage. After that there's no spinal cord, it's all the roots and the nerves, particularly the ones that have to go to the lower extremities. So, when you're born, your spinal cord comes all the way down to the end of the vertebral column. As you grow, the spinal cord doesn't grow but the bones grow and, therefore, the spinal cord gets lifted up. It stays the same size but now you're growing, so the bottom of that is now where the nerves are going. So, when you have a herniated disc, it's the root that gets compressed. If you have a fracture, it's the root that gets depressed. Whereas, if you have a fracture of your neck or a fracture of your thorasic spine, you do run the risk of compressing the spinal cord which is a considerably more difficult thing and winds up with paralysis.
