📑 Table of Contents▼
Articular process
A cervical vertebra. (Superior and inferior processes labeled at right.)
A thoracic vertebra. (Superior labeled at top; inferior labeled at bottom.)
Details
Identifiers
Latinprocessus articularis inferior vertebrae,
processus articularis superior vertebrae
FMA11952
Anatomical terms of bone

The articular process or zygapophysis (Greek: ζυγόν, romanized: zugón, lit. 'yoke' + apophysis) of a vertebra is a projection of the vertebra that serves the purpose of fitting with an adjacent vertebra. The actual region of contact is called the articular facet.[1]

Articular processes spring from the junctions of the pedicles and laminæ, and there are two right and left, and two superior and inferior. These stick out of an end of a vertebra to lock with a zygapophysis on the next vertebra, to make the backbone more stable.

  • The superior processes or prezygapophysis project upward from a lower vertebra, and their articular surfaces are directed more or less backward (oblique coronal plane).
  • The inferior processes or postzygapophysis project downward from a higher vertebra, and their articular surfaces are directed more or less forward and outward.

The articular surfaces are coated with hyaline cartilage.

In the cervical vertebral column, the articular processes collectively form the articular pillars. These are the bony surfaces palpated just lateral to the spinous processes.

Additional images

edit
  • Cervical vertebra
    Cervical vertebra
  • Median sagittal section of two lumbar vertebræ and their ligaments.
    Median sagittal section of two lumbar vertebræ and their ligaments.

See also

edit

References

edit

Public domain This article incorporates text in the public domain from page 97 of the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)

  1. ^ Moore, Keith L. et al. (2010) Clinically Oriented Anatomy, 6th Ed, p.442 fig. 4.2
edit


Stub icon

This human musculoskeletal system article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information.

📚 Artikel Terkait di Wikipedia

Process (anatomy)

ulnar styloid processes The uncinate processes of ribs found in birds and reptiles The uncinate process of the pancreas The spinous, articular, transverse

Sacrum

is completed by the lamina and spinous process of the first sacral vertebra. The superior articular processes project from it on either side; they are

Joint

that forms the articular capsule that is normally associated with accessory ligaments. facet joint – joint between two articular processes between two vertebrae

Vertebra

body. There are seven processes projecting from the vertebra: one spinous process two transverse processes four articular processes A major part of a vertebra

Spinal column

processes are the articular processes, and still more laterally the transverse processes. In the thoracic region, the transverse processes stand backward

Lumbar vertebrae

of its spinous process; by the wide interval between the inferior articular processes, and by the thickness of its transverse processes, which spring from

Thoracic vertebrae

superior articular surfaces are directed upward and backward; the spinous process is thick, long, and almost horizontal. The transverse processes are long

Facet joint

apophyseal, or Z-joints) are a set of synovial, plane joints between the articular processes of two adjacent vertebrae. There are two facet joints in each spinal