Anatom3DVertebra prominens (C7)
Vertebra prominens · Vyčnívající obratel (C7)
Skeleton
Looks like
The long spinous process of the seventh neck vertebra — the knob you feel at the base of the neck when you bend your head forward.
What it does
Anchors neck and back ligaments and muscles; clinicians count the vertebrae from it.
Keeping it well
A landmark more than a trouble spot. Neck pain after a fall with tenderness right over the spine needs an X-ray before the neck is moved.
Related conditions
- Acromegaly
- Fractures
- Fragility fracture
- Frailty & falls in older age
- Hyperparathyroidism
- Neck pain and cervical spondylosis
- Osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease)
- Osteomalacia & rickets
- Osteomyelitis (bone infection)
- Osteoporosis
- Paget's disease of bone
- Sarcoma
- Vitamin B1, C and other deficiencies
- Vitamin D deficiency
- Whiplash
- Wry neck (torticollis)