the.com/spinal
the original information superhighway, transmitting at speeds your fiber optic envies.
means Relating to the spine or backbone, especially the column of vertebrae that protects the central nerve cord running down your back.
from From Latin spina, "thorn, spine, backbone" — the same word for the prickle on a plant and the ridge of bone down an animal's back, the two sharing that idea of something sharp and protruding. The English adjective spinal arrived through Late Latin spinalis, and spina also gave us "spine" itself and, less obviously, "spinney," a thicket of thorny growth.
- signal speed
- nerve impulses hit 268 miles per hour
- reflex boss
- spine reacts before your brain knows
- vertebra count
- thirty-three bones, fused into twenty-six adults
- cord length
- stops growing at toddler height, roughly eighteen inches
- fluid bath
- floats in protective cerebrospinal fluid, cushioning every jolt
spinal cord injury — christopher reeve paralyzed from 1995 horseback riding accident, advocated for stem cell research
spinal tap — medical procedure to extract cerebrospinal fluid, used to diagnose meningitis and other conditions
spinal fusion surgery — procedure joining vertebrae; performed on millions yearly, including tiger woods in 2017