Nerves are what control the body’s functions including the vital organs, sensation and movement. Spinal nerves are the paths of communication between the spinal cord and nerves innervating specific regions of the body. There are thirty-one pairs of spinal nerves along the vertebral column. The spinal nerve is the bit that passes out of the vertebrae through the foramen. There are eight pairs of cervical nerves, twelve pairs of thoracic nerves, five pair of lumbar and five pairs of sacral nerves and then there is one pair of coccyx nerves.
Each nerve has two roots connecting to the spinal cord. The dorsal one is the sensory root and the ventral is the motor root. Sensory receptors send information to the spinal cord and the brain through the spinal nerve. The dorsal roots contain afferent sensory axons and the dorsal roots from both sides continue outward and form the dorsal root ganglion. The ventral roots contain efferent motor neurons. In sort of the same way as the dorsal roots, the ventral roots continue to move away from the spinal cord. They then meet up with their corresponding dorsal root at a point after the ganglion and mix.
I decided to write on this topic because of an accident that just recently happened. My cousin was in a snowmobile accident just the other day. When they took the x-ray, it showed that one of the side foramen was no longer there. They thought maybe he had a fracture. I am not sure which one they said it was, but no major damage was done due to it because of the fracture. He was however told to wear a neck brace to prevent further injury.