Your neck contains seven bones called cervical vertebrae, labeled C1 through C7. They are the smallest vertebrae in your entire spine, yet they perform some of the most critical jobs: protecting the spinal cord as it exits the brain, supporting the weight of your head (roughly 10 to 12 pounds), and giving your neck its remarkable range of motion.
The Seven Cervical Vertebrae
The cervical spine starts just below the skull and ends where your neck meets your upper back. Each of the seven vertebrae is stacked on top of the next, connected at the back by small joints called facet joints. These joints allow your neck to bend forward, tilt backward, and twist side to side. Between most of the vertebrae sit spongy discs made of cartilage that act as shock absorbers, preventing the bones from grinding against each other.
While all seven vertebrae share a basic design, the top two and the bottom one are built differently from the rest. The middle four, C3 through C6, are considered “typical” cervical vertebrae. They share a similar size, shape, and set of features, including small openings on each side called transverse foramina. These tunnels house the vertebral arteries, which carry blood up through the neck and into the brain.
C1 and C2: The Bones That Move Your Head
The top two vertebrae are unlike anything else in the spine. C1, called the atlas, is essentially an open ring of bone. It has no solid body and no spinous process (the bony bump you can feel along the back of most vertebrae). Instead, it consists of two arches, a smaller one in front and a larger one in back, connected by bony masses on each side. This ring sits directly beneath the skull and is responsible for the nodding motion you make when you say “yes.” The skull rocks forward and backward on top of it.
C2, called the axis, has a unique feature: a small bony peg that projects upward from its body and fits inside the ring of C1. This peg acts as a pivot point. When you shake your head “no,” your atlas (and your skull along with it) rotates around this peg. Together, C1 and C2 account for a large share of the neck’s total rotation. The spinal canal is widest at the C2 level, which provides extra room for the spinal cord and helps reduce the risk of cord injury even when this area is stressed.
C3 Through C6: The Typical Vertebrae
The four middle vertebrae handle the bulk of everyday neck movement. Each one has a small, oval-shaped body in front that bears weight, a bony arch in back that surrounds and protects the spinal cord, and paired facet joints that link it to the vertebrae above and below. Small nerve roots branch off the spinal cord and exit through openings between each pair of vertebrae, carrying signals to and from the shoulders, arms, and hands.
These vertebrae also contain the transverse foramina mentioned earlier. The vertebral arteries typically enter these tunnels at C6 and travel upward through C5, C4, C3, C2, and C1 before reaching the base of the brain. This bony corridor protects the arteries from being compressed or kinked as you move your neck throughout the day.
C7: The Transition Bone
The lowest cervical vertebra is sometimes called the “vertebra prominens” because it has the longest spinous process of any neck bone. You can usually feel it as a noticeable bump at the base of your neck, especially when you tilt your head forward. C7 marks the transition between the cervical and thoracic spine, connecting the flexible neck to the more rigid upper back. Doctors and anesthesiologists frequently use this bump as a landmark to identify spinal levels during procedures.
How the Neck Moves
The cervical spine is the most mobile section of the entire vertebral column. Normal flexion (chin toward chest) reaches about 80 degrees, while extension (looking up at the ceiling) adds another 50 degrees, for a total front-to-back arc of roughly 130 degrees. You can tilt your head about 45 degrees to each side, and rotate it approximately 80 degrees in each direction, giving you a total rotational range of around 160 degrees.
This mobility comes with a tradeoff. Because the cervical vertebrae are small and the neck is relatively exposed compared to the rib-protected thoracic spine, the area is more vulnerable to injury from impacts, whiplash, and repetitive strain.
The Discs Between the Bones
Between each pair of vertebrae from C2 down sits an intervertebral disc. These discs serve three purposes: they absorb compressive forces, they allow the spine to flex and bend, and they keep the bony surfaces of adjacent vertebrae from making direct contact.
One interesting feature of these discs is that they change height over the course of a day. When you’re upright, gravity and body weight squeeze water out of the disc tissue, causing it to lose 10% to 20% of its height by evening. Overnight, while you’re lying down, the discs reabsorb fluid and return to their full height. This is why most people are slightly taller in the morning than at the end of the day.
How Neck Bones Change With Age
Over time, the intervertebral discs gradually lose water content and become thinner and stiffer. This process, called cervical spondylosis, is extremely common. More than 85% of people over 60 show some degree of it on imaging, though many have no symptoms at all.
As the discs break down, the body sometimes responds by growing extra bone along the edges of the vertebrae. These bony growths, called bone spurs, are the body’s attempt to stabilize a weakening segment of spine. In many cases they’re harmless. But if they grow into the spinal canal or into the openings where nerves exit, they can press on the spinal cord or nerve roots, causing pain, numbness, or weakness in the arms and hands. The pace and severity of these changes vary widely from person to person and depend on genetics, posture habits, activity level, and prior injuries.