Ascending And Descending Tract Of The Spinal Cord

Ascending tracts 

• Relay station for primary feed back (sensory)
• Main afferent tracts  
  • Fasciculus gracilis/cuneatus (Anterior/posterior)
    • Sensory 
    • For trunk, neck, UE propioception, vibration, two-point discrimination, and graphesthesia 
  • Spinocerebellar tract (dorsal/ventral)
    • Sensory 
    • Ipsilateral subconscious, proprioception, tension of muscles, joint sense, and posture. 
  • Spinothalamic tract (anterior) 
    • Sensory 
    • Light touch 
  • Spinothalamic (lateral)
    • Sensory 
    • Pain and temperature 

Descending tracts 

• Involved with voluntary motor function, muscle tone, relfexes, and equilibrium (motor)
• Main efferent tracts 
• Pyrmidal motor types
  • Corticospinal tract (anterior)
    •  Motor 
    • Ipsilateral skilled movements 
  • Corticospinal tract (lateral) 
    • Motor 
    • Contralateral fine movements 
  • Damage to this may cause positive Babinski sign, loss of fine movement, and voluntary movement. 
• Extrapyramidal motor types 
  • Reticulospinal tract 
    • Motor 
    • Facilitation/inhibition of voluntary and reflex activity 
  • Rubrospinal tract 
    • Motor
    • Gross posture tone
    • Facilitating flexor muscles 
    • Inhibiting extensor muscles 
  • Tectospinal tract 
    • Motor 
    • Contralateral postural muscle tone 
  • Vestibulospinal tract 
    • Motor
    • Ispsilateral posture adjustments 
  • Damage to this may cause in paralysis, hypertonicity, exaggerated deep tendon reflex.