Morphology and Development of the Spine: Plea for a Doubt

Abstract

Growth and development of the vertebral column cannot be understood without taking into account its closest link with the “leading” cogrowth of its neural content. The phylogenetically established degree of outgrowth of that content determines the length of individual vertebrae and of the vertebral envelope in whole. Impairment of spinal neural growth leads to neuroadaptive transformation of vertebral shape in the sense of neuroadaptive shortening. Insufficient spinal neural growth during the developmental period is paralleled by involutional atrophogenic shortening of the spinal nerve roots in the aged with essentially analogous response of the vertebral envelope, viz., profound and sometimes bizarre neuroadaptive “deformities” in the course of development, neuroadaptive “degenerative” narrowing (i.e. shortening) of the disc space(s) in the course of aging. Owing to the craniocaudally proceeding growth in length of the axial organ the neuroadaptive shortening in both instances is accomplished as though “from below”.