There are spatial considerations all the way through the vertebral column Yoga quotes about nature , but once beyond the critical region of the neck, they generally involve the neuroforamina, Yoga quotes about nature the chinks in the spinal cord’s boney armor through which nerve roots pass on their way to the limbs and other parts of the body.
The combination of stress bearing and movement can result in the production of osteophytes, which narrow these openings, at times causing pain, numbness, and strange sensations called paresthesias, as well as weakness in the shoulders, arms, hands, hips, legs, feet, and sphincters. The facet joints bear a good deal of the stress, particularly when overweight or poor posture promotes arching, or lordosis, of the lower back. These joints are behind the vertebral bodies, bordering on the canals through which the nerve roots pass. Arching the back narrows the openings, and osteophytes narrow them further.
Other anatomical features that are not directly part of a spinal joint can also affect the nerve roots. The intervertebral discs often degenerate in the arthritic spine, which lowers the roof of the spaces the nerve roots pass through, the neuroforamina. Swelling of a ligament inside the spinal canal, the ligamentum flavum, can further constrain the passage of nerves just by taking up some of the unchangeable space within the bones.
