The spinal cord relays messages between the body and the brain. These messages control body functions like movement, bladder and bowel control and breathing. Each vertebra has a pair of spinal nerves that receive messages from the body (sensory impulses) and send messages to the body (motor impulses). The spinal nerves are numbered 1 to 55 from the neck down. The first eight as seen here are the vertebrate and send messages to the back of the head, neck, shoulders, arms, hands and diaphragm. A) cervical B) lumbar C) sacral D) thoracic