The document discusses anatomical position and how it is used to describe movement. It defines anatomical position as standing upright with arms at sides and facing forward. It introduces four key concepts for describing movement: planes, axes, positions, and movements. The three anatomical planes are frontal, sagittal, and transverse. Axes include anteroposterior, horizontal, and longitudinal. Common anatomical positions and movements are also defined such as flexion, extension, abduction, adduction, and others. Understanding these concepts provides a framework for analyzing and describing human anatomy and kinesiology.

2. What is it?
The anatomical position is:
To be in correct anatomical position, the body must
meet 3 criteria:
“the universal accepted starting point used to
describe or analyze anatomical terms or
movement.”
1. Upright, standing position
2. Face and feet pointing forward
3. Arms at the side, palms facing forward
But how do we use the anatomical position to describe
movement?

3. The Anatomical Position

4. Before looking specifically at movement, we first have to
understand how to describe movement. By the end of
this lesson you will be introduced to 4 concepts:
1. Planes
2. Axes
3. Position
4. Movements
You will be learning and expected to use a new language from here on in!

5. Anatomical Planes
Frontal(Coronal)
-relate to positions in space and found at right angles to each other
-these planes can be positioned on any specific parts of the body
-vertical; splits the
body into front and
back halves

6. Frontal section of the human face

7. Anatomical Planes
Frontal(Coronal)
-relate to positions in space and found at right angles to each other
-these planes can be positioned on any specific parts of the body
-vertical; splits the
body into front and
back halves
Sagittal
-vertical; splits the
body into left and
right halves

8. Sagittal view of the human face

9. Anatomical Planes
Frontal(Coronal)
-relate to positions in space and found at right angles to each other
-these planes can be positioned on any specific parts of the body
-vertical; splits the
body into front and
back halves
Sagittal
-vertical; splits the
body into left and
right halves
Transverse
-horizontal; splits
the body into upper
and lower halves

10. Transverse view of the human thigh

11. The Frontal Plane

12. The Sagittal Plane

13. The Transverse Plane

14. Anatomical Axes
-a lot of our movement occurs via our joints
-axes are used to describe the direction of movement at joints
Antero-posterior
-horizontal;
extends from
front to back
-rotate side to
side
Horizontal
-horizontal; runs from one side of the body to the other
-rotate top to bottom
Longitudinal
-vertical; extends
superior (head) to
inferior (foot)
-rotate around

15. Body Position Terminology
• The following terms will become like a second language for you. These terms
are used to describe position of the body and will be used extensively when we
talk about muscles and bones
Medial- towards the midline(centre) of the body
Lateral- away from the midline of the body
Proximal- situated closest to the point of attachment
Distal- situated farthest from the point of attachment
Superior- towards the top of the body (cranial)
Inferior- towards the bottom of the body (caudal)
Anterior- towards the front of the body (ventral)
Posterior- towards the back of the body (dorsal)
Superficial- on or close to the surface of the body
Deep- farther away from the surface of the body

16. Let’s apply our knowledge
1. 2.
Using what you have learned today, for each of these movements: 1)cartwheel
and 2) figure skater spin, describe the motion by which plane and axis each
movement occurs
Plane:
Axis:
Plane:
Axis:
Frontal
Anteroposterier
Transverse
Longitudinal

17. Describe the anatomical plane that each of the following
pictures is viewed from:
sagittal

18. Transverse

19. sagittal

20. frontal

21. frontal

22. Anatomical Movements

23. Planes & Movements
Movements in the sagittal plane around a horizontal
axis
• (e.g. front roll, back roll, cycling, running)
Flexion
• flexion at a joint results in a decrease of the angle
between the two segments that meet at that joint
Extension
• extension at a joint results in an increase of the
angle between the two segments that meet at that
joint
• if the movement occurs beyond the extended
position, the action is called hyperextension

24. Examples of flexion and
extension

25. Planes & Movements
Movements in the frontal plane around a antereoposterior axis
• (e.g. cartwheel, jumping jacks, galloping)
Abduction
• occurs when a body part is moved away from the midline
of the body
• “Abducted by aliens”
Adduction
• occurs when a body part is moved toward the midline of
the body
• “adding to your body”

27. Movements & Planes
Inversion
• Turning the sole of the foot inward at the ankle (so the sole of the foot
faces toward the midline)
Eversion
• turning the sole of the foot outward at the ankle (so the sole of the foot
faces away from the midline)
Elevation
• raising a part to a superior position
• e.g. raising your shoulders toward your ears; closing your jaw
Depression
• lowering a part to an inferior position
• e.g. lowering your shoulders to normal or lower than normal position;
lowering your jaw to an open position

28. More…
Protraction
• Sticking jaw out (pouting)
Retraction
• Bringing jaw back to anatomical position
• Lateral bending
• bending of the spinal column in the frontal plane
to the left or right
• e.g. bending side to side at the waist

29. More…
Pronation
• rotation of the forearm and hand to the palms down
position
Supination
• rotation of the forearm and hand to the palms up position
(remember holding a cup of “soup”)
Protraction
• Shoulder rounding (hunching shoulders)
Retraction
• Bringing shoulders back to anatomical position, or
squeezing shoulder blades together at back

31. Special movements
Circumduction
• a combination of abduction, adduction, flexion and
extension
• this action describes a circle
• e.g. moving the shoulder in a circle (swimming, windmill
throw in baseball); can also be done at the hip joint
Opposition
• Bringing thumb towards fingers
Reposition
• Returning thumb back to anatomical position