First lumbar vertebra at a glance
- Also called
- L1
- What it is
- The first of the five lumbar vertebrae, labelled L1, in the lower back.
- Location
- Lies at the top of the lumbar spine between T12 and L2.
- Function
- Bears the weight of the upper body and allows flexion and extension of the lower back.
- Body system
- Skeletal · single, midline structure
- FMA ID
- FMA13072 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- In adults the spinal cord ends (conus medullaris) at about the L1-L2 level.
- It has the smallest body of the lumbar vertebrae; lumbar vertebrae have no transverse foramina and no costal facets.
- The transpyloric plane, through the pylorus, the fundus of the gallbladder and the renal hila, lies at about L1.
Clinical relevance
Wedge compression fractures in osteoporosis and burst fractures after falls are common at T12–L1.
Structures next to the first lumbar vertebra
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Intervertebral disk of first lumbar vertebra · skeletal
- Second lumbar vertebra · skeletal
- Twelfth thoracic vertebra · skeletal
- Lumbar rotator · muscular
- Abdominal aorta · cardiovascular
- Posterior division of renal artery · cardiovascular
- Renal artery · cardiovascular
- Lumbar vein · cardiovascular
- Renal vein · cardiovascular
- Suprarenal vein · cardiovascular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: First lumbar vertebra (FMA13072). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §7.1 Divisions of the Skeletal System. Rice University, 2022.
- Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.
Related anatomy
Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.