Where are the growth plates located in the spine?

Growth plates are located near the ends of your child’s bones. If a fracture goes through a growth plate, it can result in a shorter or crooked limb.

What type of bones contain growth plates?

Growth plates are found in the long bones of the body — the bones that are longer than they are wide. Examples of long bones include the femur (thighbone), the radius and ulna in the forearm, as well as the metacarpal bones in the hands.

What does the spinal column include?

In humans, the vertebral column usually consists of 33 vertebrae, placed in series and connected by ligaments and intervertebral discs. However, the number of vertebrae can vary between 32 and 35. Usually there are 7 cervical, 12 thoracic, 5 lumbar, 5 sacral and 4 caudal (coccygeal) vertebrae.

At what age spinal cord stops growing?

The cauda equina forms because the spinal cord stops growing in length at about age four, even though the vertebral column continues to lengthen until adulthood. This results in sacral spinal nerves originating in the upper lumbar region.

Do all bones have growth plates?

Most long bones have one growth plate at each end. When a child is done growing because his or her growth plates have closed and are no longer creating new bone.

What are growth plates?

Growth plates are the areas of active, new bone growth near the ends of bones. They’re made up of cartilage, a rubbery, flexible material (the nose, for instance, is made of cartilage). When kids are done growing, the growth plates harden into solid bone.

What are the 5 sections of the spinal column?

The spine is composed of 33 bones, called vertebrae, divided into five sections: the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine sections, and the sacrum and coccyx bones. The cervical section of the spine is made up of the top seven vertebrae in the spine, C1 to C7, and is connected to the base of the skull.

Which bones are part of the spinal column?

Vertebrae are the 33 individual bones that interlock with each other to form the spinal column. The vertebrae are numbered and divided into regions: cervical, thoracic, lumbar, sacrum, and coccyx (Fig.

Why is spinal cord shorter than vertebral column?

The spinal cord is shorter than the length of the bony spinal column; the spinal cord extends down only to the last of the thoracic vertebrae. Nerves that extend from the spinal cord from the lumbar and sacral levels must run in the vertebral canal for a distance before they leave the vertebral column.

How far down the spinal column does the spinal cord extend?

The spinal cord, about 45 cm in length, extends from the foramen magnum, where it is continuous with the medulla oblongata, to the level of the first or second lumbar vertebra (The range is T12 to L3). Below that level, the vertebral canal is occupied by spinal nerve roots and meninges.

What is the function of the growth plate in bone?

In the long bones growth plates are a cartilagenous zone in between a bony zone at the end (usually a joint) and the shaft of the long bone, where new bone is formed and thus the bone can grow in length until the growth plate under the influence of sex hormones at maturation ossifies and no growth in length is further possible.

What are the regions of the spinal cord?

Spinal Cord Regions. The ventral horn motor neurons develop here and extend axons out of the spinal cord to innervate developing skeletal muscle. Tracts formed by axons surround these horns and project both up and down the spinal cord. Alar plate – thick wall region lying either side of the roof floor plate.

How does the spinal cord develop during pregnancy?

During pregnancy, early development of the spinal cord is influenced by the maternal dietary requirement for folate for closure of the neural tube. Later development requires the contribution of neural crest associating with the cord to form the dorsal root ganglia and ventral sympathetic ganglia.

What causes a bone to grow in thickness?

Other bones e.g. vertebrae at both ends (so not in between two bony structures) are covered by cartilage which have the same function to form bone like a growth plate and will thus cause the bone to grow in thickness. At maturition this will thin into a hyalin cartilage and stop growing. See On vertebral body growth.