Disk (intervertebral disk)

A ring of cartilage and fibrous tissue with a pulpy or gel-like center located between the vertebrae of the spine. Disks act as shock absorbers and contribute to the spine’s flexibility.


The flat, circular structure firmly embedded between the vertebrae (bones of the spine) to serve as a shock absorber for the spine by separating the vertebrae and keeping the bony structures from rubbing together when a person moves and bends. Intervertebral disks are attached to the weight-bearing part of each vertebra by sheaths of muscle and by the ligaments that connect the spinal bones. The characteristics of intervertebral disks change with advancing age. From childhood into early adulthood, the disks are soft, gel-filled sacs that begin to get firmer as a person gets older. In young adults, the blood supply to the disks has ended, the soft sacs are stiffening, and their structure is less elastic. By middle age, intervertebral disks are tough, fibrous, and as inflexible as hard rubber. As a person ages, intervertebral disks can become more susceptible to damage from injury.


The flexible plate of fibrocartilage that connects any two adjacent vertebrae in the backbone. At birth the central part of the disk, the nucleus pulposus, consists of a gelatinous substance, which becomes replaced by cartilage with age. The intervertebral disks account for one quarter of the total length of the backbone; they act as shock absorbers, protecting the brain and spinal cord from the impact produced by running and other movements.


The fibrocartilaginous tissue between the vertebral bodies. The outer portion is the anulus fibrosus; the inner portion is the nucleus pulposus. The disk is a shock absorber, or cushion, and permits movement.


The intervertebral disc, a cylindrical, elastic gel-like cushion, functions to connect and provide separation between each adjacent pair of vertebrae in the spine.


 


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