Eli5: What is a spinal disk made of? And do they NEED to be in a spine model?

Question

Example: if you die in a field and all your mustles “disolve?” And all thats left of your body are bones, would the disks also be there?

In: 41

Answer 1

One reason the discs are important is that they effect the way the actual bones fit together. This comes up in paleontology a lot. Sometimes people make estimates about the flexibility and position of animal necks and spines that are incorrect because they just set the bones together rather than accounting for cartiledge