ATLANTO OCCIPITAL JOINT

The bone that makes up the base of the skull is called the Occiput. If you place your hand on the back of your neck, and slide it up, those first boney protruberances you feel are the occiput.

The first bone in the neck is called the Atlas. It's really just a ring.

Structurally, it requires some very demanding engineering features. It has to be

• Extremely strongly bonded, or else the head would fall off the neck the first time a person experienced some trauma. Not good! This is achieved with very powerful stiff ligaments, and equally strong but flexible muscles.

  Here you can see it on an x-ray. Fearfully and wonderfully made!

  For more about Whiplash Chiropractic, click on the picture ...

  

• The spinal cord passes through a hole in the base of the occiput (called the Foramen Magnum), and down through the large hole in the Atlas. This is a cross-sectional view, as seen from below, looking up at the skull. All sorts of interesting structures have to pass through the hole.

  

• Two important arteries wind their way up inside the spine, and find their way through the Foramen Magnum too.

Joints

A = C0-C1 joint.

In due course, I'll add a page on the muscles of the region. Vitally important they too are in the management of Headache Chiropractic ...

NECK PAIN ANATOMY CaseFile ...

Symptoms of whiplash

Prevention

Prolonged flexion of the occiput on the atlas, the nodding action, as in reading a book on a flat desk, places the suboccipital muscles under ongoing stretch. Devices such as this simple device are a must for every student, teacher, accountant ... in my view no home should be without it.

At a cost, delivered, of about three chiropractic consultations, it will pay for itself with weeks. Click on the pic.