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Ligaments of the vertebral column

ligamenta columnae vertebralis

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Study entry

Classification

A set of ligaments that join the vertebrae (not an isolated joint).

Surfaces

Anterior longitudinal ligament: wide, strong band on the anterolateral surfaces of the bodies and discs, from the pelvic surface of the sacrum to the anterior tubercle of C1 and the occipital bone in front of the foramen magnum (the upper parts are the anterior atlantoaxial and atlanto-occipital membranes); it is the only one that limits extension. Posterior longitudinal: narrower, weaker band inside the vertebral canal, on the posterior surface of the bodies from C2 to the sacrum, attached mainly to the discs; it weakly opposes hyperflexion and helps prevent posterior herniation; it has many nociceptive endings. Ligamenta flava: bands of yellowish elastic tissue between the laminae of adjacent vertebrae, long and thin in the cervical region, thicker in the thoracic and thicker still in the lumbar; they limit sudden flexion and preserve the curvatures. Interspinous: weak, often membranous, from the root to the tip of each spinous process. Supraspinous: fibrous cords joining the tips of the spinous processes from C7 to the sacrum and fusing above with the nuchal ligament. Nuchal: strong, wide median band of fibroelastic tissue, from the external occipital protuberance and the posterior border of the foramen magnum to the cervical spinous processes; it gives attachment to muscles, since the processes of C3 to C5 are short and deep. Intertransverse: scattered fibers in the neck, fibrous cords in the thorax and thin in the lumbar region.

Capsule

Capsules of the zygapophysial joints reinforced by the accessory ligaments.

Movements

The ligaments limit flexion and extension of the spine, help maintain the curvatures and stabilize the joints.

Blood supply

Spinal branches of the segmental arteries of the level, which supply the bones, the periosteum, the ligaments and the meninges around the epidural space: in the neck, from the vertebral and ascending cervical arteries; in the thorax, from the posterior intercostals; in the abdomen, from the subcostal and lumbar arteries; in the pelvis, from the iliolumbar and the lateral and median sacral arteries.

Innervation

Meningeal (recurrent) branches of the spinal nerves. They arise just after the nerve forms, return through the intervertebral foramen and supply the periosteum, the ligaments (especially the anterior longitudinal), the meninges and the annuli fibrosi of the discs. They carry pain from these structures.

Source: cap. 2, «Articulaciones de la columna vertebral»: ligamentos; «Vascularización de la columna vertebral» e «Nervios de la columna vertebral»