Pippa Corbett answered
The role of the spinal cord in the human body is very important. It acts as an 'information highway' between your brain and other parts of your body.
Every movement you make, and every physical sensation and feeling you experience, travels through your spinal cord.
What does the spinal cord do?
The spinal cord is a length of tissue that plugs into the brain and reaches down to around your waistline.
Your spine is made of a 'bundle' of nerves that travel down the length of your back. Because these are so important and sensitive, they need to be protected by a hard case of bones called the vertebrae - in the same way as your skull protects your brain.
Your spinal nerves could be damaged very easily if they weren't protected by the vertebrae.
As far as the 'design' of these vertebrae goes, I'd describe them as something of a compromise:
They don't protect the spinal nerves completely (leaving us susceptible to serious nerve damage and paralysis through injury), but our vertebrae are also flexible enough to allow us to move about and twist around with relative ease.
Although your spine runs down your back, it is connected to every part of your body through nerves which branch out from the main spine, like rural roads connecting to a major highway.
Every movement you make, and every physical sensation and feeling you experience, travels through your spinal cord.
What does the spinal cord do?
The spinal cord is a length of tissue that plugs into the brain and reaches down to around your waistline.
Your spine is made of a 'bundle' of nerves that travel down the length of your back. Because these are so important and sensitive, they need to be protected by a hard case of bones called the vertebrae - in the same way as your skull protects your brain.
Your spinal nerves could be damaged very easily if they weren't protected by the vertebrae.
As far as the 'design' of these vertebrae goes, I'd describe them as something of a compromise:
They don't protect the spinal nerves completely (leaving us susceptible to serious nerve damage and paralysis through injury), but our vertebrae are also flexible enough to allow us to move about and twist around with relative ease.
Although your spine runs down your back, it is connected to every part of your body through nerves which branch out from the main spine, like rural roads connecting to a major highway.
