Second lumbar vertebra at a glance
- Also called
- L2
- What it is
- The second of the five lumbar vertebrae, labelled L2, in the lower back.
- Location
- Lies in the upper lumbar spine between L1 and L3.
- 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
- FMA13073 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Lumbar puncture is performed below this level, usually at L3-L4 or L4-L5, to avoid the spinal cord.
- The right crus of the diaphragm attaches to the bodies of L1–L3 and the left crus to L1–L2.
- Like all lumbar vertebrae it has mammillary and accessory processes and articular facets that face medially and laterally, which limits rotation.
Structures next to the second lumbar vertebra
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Lumbar vein · cardiovascular
- Lumbar artery · cardiovascular
- Intervertebral disk of second lumbar vertebra · skeletal
- Third lumbar vertebra · skeletal
- First lumbar vertebra · skeletal
- Lumbar rotator · muscular
- Intervertebral disk of first lumbar vertebra · skeletal
- Ascending lumbar vein · cardiovascular
- Abdominal aorta · cardiovascular
- Posterior division of renal artery · cardiovascular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Second lumbar vertebra (FMA13073). 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.