Conclusion.We have reported for the first time, that an alkaptonuria patient showed thoracic myelopathy caused by rupture of a thoracic intervertebral disc.
From top to bottom, the first seven bones are the cervical vertebrae, the next twelve are the thoracic vertebra and the next five, are the lumbar vertebrae.
In the thoracic region of the spine, neural crest cells differentiate into the neurons of the sympathetic chain, lying on either side of the entire spinal cord.
Your sympathetic fibers are thoracolumbar — meaning that they originate from between your thoracic vertebrae where your ribs attach, and the lumbar vertebrae just inferior to your ribs.
I hopped into our tractor, and a few minutes later, a five foot tall, 700-pound bale of hay fell from the loader, crushing me in the seat of the tractor and in the process shattering my T5 and T6 vertebrae.