One of the key issues for a health care overhaul is how to pay only for necessary care — and how to identify which procedures and treatments are most advantageous to patients. Two studies published ...

Block vertebrae is when two or more vertebrae are fused. It’s present from birth and can cause pain and reduced range of motion. Treatment may include medications, physical therapy, or surgery. Your ...

The muscles of the lower back help stabilize, rotate, flex, and extend the spinal column, which is a bony tower of 24 vertebrae that gives the body structure and houses the spinal cord. The spinal ...

As a rule all mammals have the same number of vertebrae in their necks regardless of whether they are a giraffe, a mouse, or a human. But both sloths and manatees are exceptions to this rule having ...

Snakes, fish, chickens, and humans all begin life in much the same way. Early in their transformation from an amorphous blob of cells into a fully developed animal, growing cells pinch off into a ...

When you have pain in your neck or upper back that you’ve never felt before, you might have a herniated cervical disk. While it might sound worrisome, it is not an uncommon health problem as you age.