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Your Spinal Cord
Your Spinal Cord is a very
complex 2 way communication
network that allows your brain
to ‘talk’ to specific parts of your
body, and for those parts to
send messages back. The cord is
similar to a telephone cable with
many wires.Your spinal cord is
approximately the diameter of
your little finger and runs from
your brain down the inside of
your spinal column and ends at
the base of L1 - the 1st Lumbar
vertebra. At this point the spinal
cord branches out into a bundle
of nerves called the cauda equina
as it looks like a horse’s tail.
The cord has three protective
layers around it. The outside
dura mater (durable matter)
is very, very tough. The arachnoid mater
(spidersweb matter) is a tightly packed layer
that looks like a woven spidersweb. The pia
mater is very thin but keeps a watertight seal
that holds in your ‘brain fluid’. The fluid
is called cerebro spinal fluid (CSF) and this
cushions and protects the brain and cord
from shock and damage.
The cord itself has a butterfl shape with 2
distinct areas within it, grey matter and white
matter. The main function of your spinal
cord is to relay messages from the body to
your brain, and from your brain to your
body. These messages travel along tracts
in the white matter. Much like escalators,
the tracts have a dedicated direction
of travel. Some tracts are dedicated to
carrying messages to the brain and some
are dedicated to carrying messages from the
brain. The three different types of messages
that travel along your spinal cord are:
1. Feelings: called sensory
2. Movement: called motor
3. Protection: called reflexes
© New Zealand Spinal Trust, 2014
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