Front Matter

426 Canine Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation

so dependent upon the spine working properly
that the structural functions assigned the verte­
brae and the associated soft tissue cannot be
ignored. Although there is a large body of liter­
ature about the workings of the canine spine,
the focus has been almost exclusively toward
applications for spinal conditions in humans.
This chapter concentrates on the functions of
the spine specifically. Spinal cord conditions
will be discussed in general terms. Detailed
descriptions of spinal pathology affecting the

spinal cord and spinal cord diseases are readily

available in numerous veterinary publications

(Birchard, 2006; Dewey, 2008; Jaggy, 2010).

Interactions of the head, thoracic

limbs, and pelvic limbs

The head

The head in upright, bipedal primates is a

rather large, heavy structure, the weight of

which is carried by a stack of relatively thin

vertebrae. It is interesting to note that in bipeds

where the head is not suspended from the

body, the thoracic dorsal spines are small. In

the dog the head is cantilevered away from the

body and needs to be suspended by structures

over the thoracic limbs. This arrangement

requires that the thoracic limbs carry more

weight than the pelvic limbs. Numerous spinal

components are necessary to support this load

efficiently. The nuchal ligament is a thick band

of elastic fibers that help support the head

with the least expenditure of energy. The

nuchal ligament extends cranially to a large

spinous process of the second cervical verte­

bra (the axis) and attaches caudally to the most

dorsal portions of the dorsal spines of the first

few thoracic vertebrae (Figure 17.2). The fibers

of the nuchal ligament actually can be fol­

lowed caudally into the ligaments that attach

to the dorsal prominence of each dorsal spine

Vertebra

Spinal cord

Intervertebral disc

Nerve

root

Figure 17.1 Cross‐section through the spine showing
the relationship between the vertebra, intervertebral disc,
nerve roots, and spinal cord. Source: Illustration by
Marcia Schlehr.

(A) (B)

Figure 17.2 Photograph (A) and line drawing (B) of the cervical spine demonstrating the variations in conformation
and the large dorsal thoracic spine needed to support the head. Source: (B) Illustration by Marcia Schlehr.