Relating to both the head and spinal cord, or to the central nervous system as a whole.
From Greek 'kephale' (head) + 'rhachis' (spine or spinal cord). The term combines neuroanatomy's two main regions, treating the brain and spinal cord as a unified system.
Before modern neuroscience unified our understanding of the brain and spinal cord as one nervous system, doctors needed a word to talk about both together—'cephalorachidian' is that technical bridge between two body parts we now know are deeply connected.
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