SPINAL NERVES

INTRODUCTION

Spinal nerves arise from spinal cord

There are 31 pairs of spinal nerves that
originate from both sides of spinal cord
It includes 8 cervical, 12 thoracic, 5
lumbar, 5 sacral and 1 coccygeal
FORMATION

Each spinal nerve is formed by the

union of dorsal and ventral root of
spinal segment
It comes out of spinal cord through
intervertebral foramen


It contains mixed nerve fibers, i.e.,
sensory and motor fibers
Dorsal root carries sensory fibers,
afferent fiber and it contains dorsal
root ganglion which is cluster of cell
bodies
Ventral root carries motor fibers,
efferent fibers and their cell bodies
are present in grey matter of spinal
cord
STRUCTURE

It is further divided into two branches or

ramus:
1. Anterior/Ventral Ramus: It supplies the
anterior and lateral aspects of skin ,
muscles of neck trunk and limbs
2. Posterior/Dorsal Ramus: It supplies skin
and muscles of head, neck and trunk
3. Rami communicance: it communicates
with sympathetic chain of ANS
 As we know there are two nervous systems;
autonomic and somatic.
So, a typical spinal carries fibers of both
systems:
• Sensory(afferent) somatic fibers
• Motor(efferent) somatic fibers
• Sensory(afferent)
Autonomic/sympathetic/visceral fibers
• Motor(efferent)
Autonomic/sympathetic/visceral fibers

PLEXUSES

Anterior rami of some spinal nerves

unite to form nerve
networks/plexuses
 Cervical Plexus (C1 ‒ C4)
 Brachial Plexus (C5 ‒ T1)
 Lumber Plexus (L1 ‒ L4)
 Sacral Plexus (L4 ‒ S4)
THANK YOU