Question

1.In an adult human, what would you find if you drilled into the L4 level of the vertebral column?

2.If you had a brain tumor that affected the cerebral cortex and the neurosurgeon said she was going to operate based on textbook descriptions of the locations of functional brain areas, what would you tell her and why?

3. What would be the result of an injury to the dorsal horn of the spinal cord in the lumbar region? Would someone still have reflexes in the affected region?

4. If someone has a brain injury that destroys the primary motor cortex, will they still have spinal reflexes such as the stretch reflex discussed in class? Why or why not?

Answer 1

1. Answer- Generally, the fourth lumbar spine vertebra (L4) is located towards the bottom of the lumbar section, near the at the sacral vertebrae bottom of the spine. Primarily L4  provides protection to the spinal cord. It has  a number of processes and grooves where muscles attaches and if you drill through L4, u may be able to see spinous, transverse, and the inferior and superior articular processes and also u will be able to see annulus fibrosus discs where L4 articulates or connects with other spinal vertebrae through circular cartilage.

Hope this helps you. Thank you ?