What are spinal nerves?

Spinal nerves come off the spinal cord. There are thirty-one pairs of spinal nerves are connected to the spinal cord.

They have no special names but are numbered by level of vertebral column at which they emerge from the spinal cavity.

There are: Eight cervical nerve pairs (C1 through C8) Twelve thoracic nerve pairs (T1 through T12) Five lumbar nerve pairs (L1 through L5) Five sacral nerve pairs (S1 through S5) One coccygeal nerve pair

Cauda equina—describes the appearance of the lower end of the cord. (Horses tail).

Each spinal nerve attaches to spinal cord by a ventral (anterior) root and a dorsal (posterior) root.

There is a dorsal root ganglion. Which is a swelling in the dorsal root of each spinal nerve.

All spinal nerves are mixed nerves, that is both motor and sensory.