Do you know the structure of the human spine?

The spine plays a wide role in sports, life, and labor, and there are more acute and chronic injuries. Understanding this knowledge is helpful for preventing trauma and rehabilitation during sports.

As the saying goes: “Standing timbers support a heavy load”, because standing timbers have the best force and weight-holding performance.

The human spine is not a standing tree, but an elastic pillar connected by vertebrae. Not only is it not straight, there are also four bends, which are physiological characteristics of humans, so they are called physiological bends.

Namely: cervical spine anterior flexion, thoracic spine posterior flexion, lumbar spine anterior flexion, and sacral spine posterior flexion. When the back of the human body stands against the wall, the normal physiological state is that the occiput of the head, shoulder blades, and buttocks touch the wall, and the neck and waist should have an arch-like gap that can accommodate a flat palm. If there are changes in these contact surfaces and the arch bridge gaps, there are also changes in the body surface morphology.

If the cervical vertebra arch bridge changes or disappears, it is manifested as a forward tilt of the neck and stiffness of the shoulders and backs. If the waist arch-like gap disappears, the upper body is leaning forward, waist stiffness, hip drag, and even awkward gait. Although the spine has many pieces and curvatures, it has a strong load-bearing function.

For example, a weightlifter can lift a weight that exceeds one to two times his own body weight, which is enough to show the weight-carrying function of the spine. In addition to the load-bearing function, the spine also has the functions of transmitting pressure, buffering vibration, and protecting the spinal cord and organs, which are related to its structural characteristics.

The spine is composed of all vertebrae, intervertebral discs, and ligaments.

1. There are 26 vertebrae, including 7 cervical vertebrae, 12 thoracic vertebrae, and 5 lumbar vertebrae. Adults have 1 sacral vertebra and 1 coccygeal vertebra. From the first cervical vertebra (also known as the ring vertebra) to the fifth lumbar vertebra each can have joint movement, which is called the true vertebra. The sacral vertebrae and the coccyx vertebrae are each 5 pieces and 4 pieces in childhood. When the body matures, each heals into one piece. Although there is still a joint shape but no joint movement, it is a false vertebra.

Although the vertebrae of each part are different in shape, they all share common structural characteristics.

Each vertebra has a vertebral body, a vertebral arch, and 7 protruding vertebral bodies are like a small round wooden pier, increasing from the third cervical vertebra downward one by one. The bones that extend back from both sides of the vertebral body and are approximately curved in the shape of an arc are called vertebral arches.

The connection between the vertebral arch and the vertebral body is the pedicle. The vertebral body and the vertebral arch form a circular foramen called the vertebral foramen. From the top to the next, the holes are connected to form a tube called the spinal canal. The spinal canal has the function of accommodating and protecting the spinal cord.

There is a depression on the upper and lower part of the pedicle near the vertebral body. The upper depression is called the paravertebral notch, and the lower depression is called the subvertebral notch. Two adjacent vertebrae superior and inferior notches enclose a hole, called the intervertebral foramen, which is a passage for spinal nerves and blood vessels.

There are 7 protrusions from the vertebral arch. The spinous process protrudes backward from the center, which can be touched by hand in the center of the back of the body. The transverse process protrudes to both sides, and the upper and lower articular processes are the upper and lower articular processes. These protrusions and adjacent vertebrae protrusions form joints, ligaments, and muscle attachments, which play a joint role in sports. 2. Intervertebral discs. Intervertebral discs are an important part of the human spine. There are 23 discs in total. It is located between the vertebral body and the vertebral body, and firmly connects the upper and lower vertebral bodies together.

The intervertebral disc is composed of the peripheral fibrous annulus and the central nucleus pulposus. The fibrous annulus in the intervertebral disc is tough and firm and is composed of collagen fibers. The nucleus pulposus is soft and highly elastic. It can be thinned under pressure and restored to its original shape under reduced pressure. The intervertebral disc has the functions of fixation, weight-bearing, stretching, flexion, shock absorption, and weight transmission.

With age, the annulus fibrosus in the intervertebral disc undergoes degenerative changes. The fibers have been thicker, and their stretchability and elasticity have weakened.

It is easier for children and adolescents to train waist flexibility. For example, gymnasts and acrobats are trained to move back down the bridge from an early age in order to achieve extraordinary flexibility.

By the time of youth, the intervertebral disc has degenerated, and the stretchability and elasticity are weakened, and it is difficult to train the waist to soften.

In children and adolescents, the waist is rarely sprained during exercise, which is determined by the fact that the various properties of the intervertebral discs and ligaments have not undergone degenerative changes.

After adolescence, the intervertebral disc begins to degenerate, and the original performance is reduced, so it is prone to injury during exercise and work. Because it is widely used between cervical vertebrae 5, 6, and 7, and between lumbar vertebrae 4, 5, and the first sacral vertebra, it is often the site of disease. The best prevention method is to strengthen the neck, shoulder, and lower back muscle exercises to enhance the stability of the spine and avoid injury.

The intervertebral disc occupies less space between the two vertebral bodies, but if the positions occupied by the 23 intervertebral discs are added together, it is equal to a quarter of the height of the active spine (true vertebra).

After a day’s activity, the intervertebral disc becomes thin and shortened under pressure, so the height of the human body can be reduced by 1 to 3 centimeters at night, but after a period of rest, the original height can be restored. Once the intervertebral disc is injured, you should absolutely rest in bed in time, which is better than treatment. It’s a pity that many people go to the hospital with illness and often miss good opportunities.

3. Ligaments, the spine has many ligaments besides the lumbar intervertebral disc connecting the vertebral body. There is an anterior longitudinal ligament in the front of the vertebral body, which is close to the front of the vertebral body and intervertebral disc. It is the longest ligament in the whole body and is very tough. It starts from the front edge of the foramen magnum and ends at the 1st and 2nd sacral vertebrae. The posterior longitudinal ligament is located on the anterior wall of the spinal canal, close to the back of the vertebral body and intervertebral disc, starting from the axis and ending in the sacral canal. This ligament is narrower than the anterior longitudinal ligament and not as strong as the anterior longitudinal ligament.

If lumbar disc herniation occurs, the disc often bulges from one side of the posterior longitudinal ligament and enters the intervertebral foramen to compress the nerve root or dural sac. Sometimes the lumbar disc even breaks through the posterior longitudinal ligament and enters the spinal canal and removes the above two large ligaments. In addition, there are some short ligaments.

There is the ligamentum flavum between the lamina, the transverse process ligament, the interspinous ligament, and the supraspinous ligament between the bone protrusions. These ligaments play a role in connection and protection and limit excessive and excessive movement between the vertebrae. The interspinous ligament and supraspinous ligament are prone to acute and chronic injuries due to poor trunk posture during exercise or long-term.

Adequate preparation for exercise and poor trunk posture can play a protective role. Strengthening of the sacral spinous muscle (vertical spinal muscle) strength exercise is also an effective measure to avoid injury. The ligamentum flavum may undergo degeneration, hyperplasia, and hypertrophy, narrowing the spinal canal, and sometimes compressing the dural sac and nerve roots, resulting in the low back and leg pain.

How can anglers prevent back pain?

Fishing is a beneficial sports event, which has a good effect on fitness and cultivating people’s sentiment. Facing the clear water, sitting steadily by the stream, holding a fishing rod, waiting for the fish to take the bait intently.

I have been successful many times and enjoy it, but no one knows that the waist is slowly being attacked by diseases. You should know that all kinds of sports competitions must have the comprehensive physical fitness to support, especially waist and abdomen strength are the basis for supporting sports, and fishing is no exception.

When fishing, the waist, and abdominal muscles are in a static state of motion, which means that the waist muscles are always tightly contracted to fix and maintain the fishing posture. Such continuous tension will cause cumulative fatigue in the waist, which will lead to lumbar muscle strain and lumbar disc disease. The cold wind stimulus while fishing can also induce frequent back pain.

Anglers who want to avoid waste problems should do two things:

① If the fishing time is too long, stand up and move your waist for 3~5 minutes in the middle. This will relax the waist and abdominal muscles, thereby avoiding cumulative fatigue.

②The waist, abdomen, and back muscles should be strengthened regularly in a planned way. Because of the strong waist, abdomen, and back muscles, we can fish better. For those who have suffered from lumbar muscle strain and back pain frequently, after the pain is relieved, attention should be paid to the exercise of the waist and abdomen before continuing fishing activities.

Those who have suffered from lumbar disc herniation should stop fishing immediately, and continue fishing after healing and rehabilitation exercises.