How many spinal nerve pairs exit the spinal cord?
There are 31 pairs of spinal nerves (8 cervical, 12 thoracic, 5 lumbar, 5 sacral, and 1 coccygeal).
Because there are only seven cervical vertebrae, the first seven cervical nerves exit above the same numbered cervical vertebrae.
The eighth cervical nerve exits above the T1 vertebrae, and the rest of the spinal nerves (T2 to L5) exit below their same numbered vertebrae.
Think of it as “the heavenly seven cervical nerves arise above the vertebral body”
