The spinal cord, housed in the spinal backbone, consists of bundles of nerves that form a communication link between the brain and the peripheral nervous system. One important function of the spinal cord is to serve as the pathway along which neural impulses from the sense organs travel up to the brain and other neural impulses from the brain travel down to the muscles and glands. Most of the peripheral nerves connect with the central nervous system through the spinal cord, and thus are called spinal nerves.

Besides serving as a pathway for neural impulse, the spinal cord controls certain types of reflexes. A reflex is an automatic movement that occurs in direct response to a stimulus. Spinal reflexes need not involve the brain, but rather rely on the neural pathways in the spinal cord for their activation. You are probably familiar with a number of reflexes. Reflexes enable people to respond quickly to potentially painful or dangerous situations.