Cervical Vertebrae, general

You are looking at the cranial aspect of the vertebra. Some keys to identifying the cervical vertebrae are the two pronged transverse processes (B) and the foramen at the base of these processes (*). The transverse foramen (*) are not present in C7, however.

A. Vertebral canal;    B. Transverse process;

C. Dorsal spinous process;       D. Vertebral arch;    E. Body;   

F. Cranial articular process, note that the articular surface is facing craniodorsally.

This is a left lateral view. You cannot see the articular surface of the cranial articular process (F), but you can see that the articular surface of the caudal articular process (G) is facing caudoventrally. An easy way for me to remember which are in front (cranial) and which are in back (caudal) is that the ones in front are like hands of someone who pushes their way up front, looking for a handout, and the ones in the back are down and out.

B. Transverse process;    C. Dorsal spinous process;

D. Vertebral arch;    E. Body;   

F. Cranial articular process;    G. Caudal articular process.

Because we see that the articular surface of the articular processes is down and out, we know that these are caudal articular processes (G), and so this is a caudal view of the cervical vertebra.

A. Vertebral canal;    B. Transverse process;

C. Dorsal spinous process;       D. Vertebral arch;

E. Body;    F. Caudal articular process.