Figure 1 Anatomy of the spinal column Parts a–c are adapted with permission from Bradbury, E. J. & McMahon, S. B. Spinal cord repair strategies: why do they work? Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 7, 644–653 (2006), Macmillan Publishers Limited. Part d and part e are adapted with permission from the American Spinal Injury Association: International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury, revised 2011; Atlanta, GA, Revised 2011, Updated 2015 Ahuja, C. S. et al. (2017) Traumatic spinal cord injury Nat. Rev. Dis. Primers doi:10.1038/nrdp.2017.18