Lets learn about anatomical terms, planes and abdominal divisions.
In anatomy we use a reference position for the human body known as anatomical position.
Here is what anatomical position looks like.
Learning anatomical terms is like learning a new language it takes a lot of practice.
The human body can be divided into the axial portion which contains the head, neck and
trunk and the appendicular portion which contains the extremities or arms and legs.
Every part of the body has its own term.
Here is the frontal region.
The eye or ocular region, the nose or nasal region, the ear or otic region, the buccal
or cheek region, the cervical or neck region.
The head or cephalic region includes the cranial region or skull and facial region.
There is also the mouth or oral region and the chin or mental region.
The trunk consists of the following regions: thoracic, mammary, abdomen, umbilical, and
pelvic.
The arm includes the axillary, brachial, and antecubital or elbow regions.
The forearm is called the antebrachial region, the wrist and hand include the carpals, palmar,
pollex, and digits.
The hand itself is called the manus or manual region.
In the lower extremity we have the inguinal, pubic and femoral regions.
There is also the patella or knee cap, the crus or crural region which is the shin area
and the tarsal or ankle region.
The toes, like the fingers are called digits with the big toe called the hallux and the
entire foot is called the pes or pedal region.
Some terms for the back of the body include the acromial or shoulder region, the dorsal
or back of the body, the olecranal or back of the elbow and the lumbar region or low
back.
We also have the gluteal, popliteal, sural, and calcaneal or heel region.
The sole of the foot is called the plantar region.
Besides regional terms there are also directional terms which allow us to relate one structure
to another.
For up and down we have superior and inferior.
There are also terms for toward the head or cranial and away from the head or caudal.
For front to back we have anterior which means toward the front and posterior which means
toward the back.
For the arms and legs we have proximal which means toward the origin and distal which means
away from the origin.
For side to side we have medial which means toward the middle and lateral which means
away from the middle.
We can use anatomical planes to divide the body.
The sagittal plane divides the body into right and left sections.
The coronal or frontal plane divides the body into anterior and posterior sections.
The transverse plane divides the body into superior and inferior sections.
Lets look at abdominal divisions next.
There are 2 ways we can divide the abdomen.
One way uses 4 planes to produce 9 equal areas around the umbilicus which is in the middle.
The epigastric region is above the umbilical region and the hypogastric region is below.
The left lumbar region is left of the umbilical region.
Above the left lumbar is the left hypochondriac and below is the left inguinal or iliac region.
On the right there are the right lumbar, right hypochondriac and right inguinal or iliac
regions.
It is good to know which organs are located in each region.
The abdomen can also be divided into 4 quadrants with 2 planes intersecting at the umbilicus.
The 4 quadrants are the right and left upper and right and left lower quadrants.
Like the 9 regions, the quadrants are used to locate anatomical structures such as organs.
We hope you have learned something about anatomical terms and see you next time.