The document discusses anatomical terminology used to describe body positions and movements. It defines anatomical position as standing erect with arms at sides and feet together. It describes the major body planes (sagittal, coronal, transverse) which divide the body into sections. Key terms are introduced for positions (superior, inferior, proximal, distal), directions (anterior, posterior, medial, lateral), and types of motion (flexion, extension, abduction, adduction, circumduction, supination, pronation, inversion, eversion). Memorization techniques are provided using prefixes and starting letters to aid in recalling anatomical terminology.

1. 2nd lecture:
anatomical nomenclature

2. Anatomical position
 Standing erect(up), eyes
looking forward to the
horizon, upper limbs hanging
by sides with palms of hands
directed forward, and feet are
together with toes pointing
forward.

3. Terms of position/direction

4. Divide the body into upper and lower portions using a
transverse plane.
Another name for superior is cranial, which makes sense because we are moving
toward the cranium or head.
Another name for inferior is caudal. Caudal means tail, which makes sense
because we are moving toward the tail away from the head.

5. Midline (median plane or midsagittal plane) is an
imaginary vertical line down the middle of the body, and it
divides the body into equal right and left sections.

6. Proximal and distal are most commonly used on the
extremities and tubular structures.
/Near point of
attachment.

7. The coronal or frontal plane runs vertically side to side,
and it divides the body into front and back sections.
The coronal line below will be our reference point when
describing anterior and posterior.

8.  Another name for anterior is ventral, and another name for posterior is dorsal.
 For ventral, you can think of a ventriloquist which literally translates to “stomach talker”.
 We learned in our medical prefix lecture that the prefix “ventri-” refers to the stomach, abdomen, or front of
the body.
 This can help you remember ventral means anterior.
 For dorsal, you can think of the dorsal fin on the back of a fish to help you remember dorsal means posterior.

9. superficial is defined as “closer to the surface”.
“Superficial” and “Surface” both start with the letter “S”
which makes it easy to remember.
deep is defined as “away from the surface of the body”.
The term is self-explanatory as we are moving deeper into
the body.

10. Division/planes of body
 Body planes are imaginary lines drawn through an upright body that is in
anatomical position.
 The major planes or imaginary lines run vertically or horizontally. The planes divide
the body into different sections or portions.
Section = “SCT”
S = Sagittal Plane (Vertical)
C = Coronal Plane (Vertical)
T = Transverse Plane (Horizontal)

11. The sagittal plane divides the body into right and
left sections.
The midsagittal plane is the specific sagittal plane
that runs exactly through the midline of the body,
and it divides the body into equal right and left
portions.
The midsagittal plane is also referred to as the
median plane.
Mid, median, and middle all start with the letter
“M”.
Remember “Sagittal” and “Side View” both start
with the letter “S”. A cut through the sagittal
plane will create a side view of the body.

12. The coronal plane is also called the frontal plane.
divides the body into front (anterior) and back (posterior)
sections.
The “Frontal” plane will give you a “Front View” of the
body as it divides the body into front and back portions.

13. The transverse plane is also called the axial plane or
horizontal plane, which makes sense because it is a
horizontal line.

14. Movements
 Anatomical terms of movement are used to describe the actions of muscles upon
the skeleton.
Flexion refers to a movement that decreases the angle
between two body parts. Flexion at the elbow is
decreasing the angle between the ulna and the humerus.
When the knee flexes, the ankle moves closer to the
buttock, and the angle between the femur and tibia gets
smaller.
Extension refers to a movement that increases the angle
between two body parts. Extension at the elbow is
increasing the angle between the ulna and the humerus.
Extension of the knee straightens the lower limb.
occur in the sagittal plane

15. Abduction is a movement away from the midline – just as
abducting someone is to take them away. For example,
abduction of the shoulder raises the arms out to the sides
of the body.
Adduction is a movement towards the midline. Adduction
of the hip squeezes the legs together.
In fingers and toes, the midline used is not the midline of
the body, but of the hand and foot respectively. Therefore,
abducting the fingers spreads them out.

16. movements at the ankle
Dorsiflexion refers to flexion at the ankle, so that the foot
points more superiorly. Or toes towards face.
Plantarflexion refers extension at the ankle, so that the
foot points inferiorly. toes towards ground.

17. Circumduction can be defined as a conical movement of a
limb extending from the joint at which the movement is
controlled.
It is sometimes talked about as a circular motion, but is
more accurately conical due to the ‘cone’ formed by the
moving limb.
Flexion, extension, abduction, adduction.

18. movement of the limbs around their long axis:
Medial rotation is a rotational movement towards the
midline. It is sometimes referred to as internal rotation.
E.g, Firstly, with a straight leg, rotate it to point the toes
inward. This is medial rotation of the hip.
Lateral rotation is a rotating movement away from the
midline.

19. supination is the movement in which a person turns their
hand, wrist, and forearm upward.
Pronation describes a rotational movement of the forearm
that results in the palm facing posteriorly/ or facing
downward.

20. occur at the ankle joint
Inversion involves the movement of the sole towards the
median plane – so that the sole faces in a medial direction.
Eversion involves the movement of the sole away from
the median plane – so that the sole faces in a lateral
direction.