As with any injury you get, you have to be careful and take it easy so you don’t make the injury worse. However, your spine is especially important to take care of when it gets injured. That being said, here are 24 vertebrae you don’t want to injure.

C1-C4 (Cervical)

Damage to this region is the most severe. When you get a spinal cord injury, it affects everything below the injury spot. So the higher up the injury, the worse it is. Damage to these vertebrae normally causes paralysis (loss of ability to move) of all four limbs. It can also result in respiratory and speech problems.

C5-C8

Damage to this region could still result in partial paralysis, however you have a better chance at maintaining motor function. Damage specifically to C5 and C6 can cause problems with your hand and wrist control and can also cause some breathing issues. C5-C8 corresponding nerves mainly control the arms, hands, wrists so everyday life could potentially be disrupted following an injury to this region.

T1-T5 (Thoracic)

These nerves can affect abdominal muscles, upper chest, and mid-back, and legs. These vertebrae are connected to the rib cage so damage to the front could potentially harm the vertebrae in the back. The thoracic vertebrae is actually what makes up the main part of your back.

T6-T12

With damage to this region, you can normally maintain upper body functions, however it can cause problems with your lower extremities. Injury to this region could also make standing or sitting only possible with a brace.

S1-S5 (Sacral) & Coccyx

You can also have damage to your sacral region (S1-S5) which could affect hip and leg functions.

With any injury to the spine, or even in general, can cause severe nerve damage and permanent problems. You can have injuries ranging from broken vertebrae to herniated discs. For those who don’t know, a disc is a rubber-like disc that essentially separates each vertebrae so they don’t sit on top of each other.

All in all, spine injuries are very serious and should be treated as such. Don’t wait to have an injury looked at because it could be causing more damage the longer is goes untreated.

Can you recover from an injury to your spine? The simple answer, yes — in some cases. With minimal damage, some physical therapy or heat treatment can fix it. Others require surgery to fix and some are permanently damaged. My advice? Get any spine injury checked out as soon as possible for the best results.