[Sharon]

Rooted along the human spine, emerging through spaces between vertebrae, are 31 pairs of spinal nerves, part of the body’s expansive peripheral nervous system that transmits signals from throughout the body to the brain and back again.

In this scanning electron micrograph, created by Thomas Deerinck, a cross-sectioned spinal nerve reveals hundreds of smaller, varied nerve fibers bundled within, each wrapped in an insulating sheath of fatty myelin. Some of these fibers carry sensory information to the brain, like the touched sharp edge of a shard of glass or the cold wetness of a dog’s nose. Other fibers transmit signals back from the responding brain, neural missives to muscles in the arm and hand to drop the glass shard or scratch the dog’s head.

The speed of these impulses varies, from a sluggish 2 miles per hour to more than 200 mph, depending upon the type of nerve fiber and its job. The senses of touch and body position are notably speedy, rushing information to the brain at up to 350 feet per second. Pain signals travel a bit more slowly, which is why you “feel” a stubbed toe before it actually starts to hurt.

At the center of the spinal nerve is a blood vessel, packed with blood cells. Despite its overall complexity, the whole nerve assembly is remarkably small, in this case about the diameter of a pencil lead.

The spinal nerve in this image has been magnified 500 times.

[Arsedestroyer]

my sister has a spinal stenosis in her neck which causes great pain and she has limited range of movement.
the doctor said if she has an operation there is only a 20% chance of it working.
i greatly admire her for coping so well with this problem

[Sharon]

Originally Posted by Arsedestroyer ↗

my sister has a spinal stenosis in her neck which causes great pain and she has limited range of movement.
the doctor said if she has an operation there is only a 20% chance of it working.
i greatly admire her for coping so well with this problem

Oh Arse, I'm so sorry to hear that. Poor lady

[Rachee]

Originally Posted by Arsedestroyer ↗

my sister has a spinal stenosis in her neck which causes great pain and she has limited range of movement.
the doctor said if she has an operation there is only a 20% chance of it working.
i greatly admire her for coping so well with this problem

It takes a strong person to live with that condition!

[Lythal]

Originally Posted by Arsedestroyer ↗

my sister has a spinal stenosis in her neck which causes great pain and she has limited range of movement.
the doctor said if she has an operation there is only a 20% chance of it working.
i greatly admire her for coping so well with this problem

What a brave girl! i dont know how id cope with something like that
My mum has a problem with her spine too but in her lower back which causes nerves to be pinched due to corroded disks which gives her really bad pain and leg cramps where the muscle can stay locked for days, they said she can get a metal rod in her back but it wont give 100% improvement and might just end up being pointless so shes trying to leave that as a last result, its interesting how something like that can cause such problems!!

[Catsratz]

Magnified stuff is almost always so awful to look at.

Especially because you can usually see the microbes and they ain't pretty

[Arsedestroyer]

thank you for all the lovely comments i didn't expect so many

[PTSD Is My Life]

Originally Posted by Arsedestroyer ↗

my sister has a spinal stenosis in her neck which causes great pain and she has limited range of movement.
the doctor said if she has an operation there is only a 20% chance of it working.
i greatly admire her for coping so well with this problem

Having suffered from horrendous continual back pain since a work related incident back in 2005 I can empathize with your sister as it is the vilest form of torture out there.
I can barely remember what it is like to be pain free, I have been so bad this last year that I have virtually been bed bound for about 7-8 months now and it can be a battle just to keep breathing at times....to be honest if breathing wasn't an autoresponse action I would probably chosen to stop many times over in these past 7-8 years....I can barely believe I have struggled almost 8 years now...I just want it to be over soon and worry I may be forced to make a decision no one wants to have to make...........

[Spiffyfable]

Neato!