The cauda equina (literally, 'horse's tail' after its appearance) is the name given the collection of nerve fibers located at the end of the spinal column. The individual nerves in this part of the spinal cord exit the foramina within the vertebral bones of the spine nearly parallel with the spinal cord itself, unlike the nerves exiting the higher spinal vertebrae, which exit more nearly perpendicular to the central nerve bundle. This gives the cauda equina a collective appearance very much ...
