Each vertebra is connected to its neighbour by two facet joints, above and below which control movement and provide stability. Between each vertebra is a big rubber-like spacer that keeps the vertebrae apart and allow for movement, called the intervertebral disk. On the inside of the disk is a gel-like substance (nucleus pulposus), just like your gel toothpaste. On the outside is a thick, tough, tissue (annulus fibrosus), arranged in layers like an onion. This is the wall of the disk and this keeps it all together. The vertebrae are connected by very strong ligaments and muscles. Some of the ligaments and muscles go from one vertebra to the next whilst others cross many bones before connecting to a vertebra higher up.

The muscles that attach from one vertebrae to the next control positioning, while the muscles that cross many vertebra are the prime movers. The role of the short muscles is to provide dynamic stability by constantly adjusting to maintain the vertebra in the correct position, so that the long muscles can move the spine as a whole. Like every other structure in the body there are also blood vessels and nerves, etc., supplying all of the tissues in the spine.