This document provides an overview of anatomical terminology used to describe the human body. It begins by defining the standard anatomical position as standing upright with arms at the sides and palms facing forward. It then covers terms used for position and direction, such as anterior, posterior, medial, lateral, proximal, and distal. Movement terms like flexion, extension, abduction, adduction, circumduction, pronation, and supination are also defined. The document aims to give students an understanding of anatomical terminology as it relates to the structure and movement of the human body.

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2. Anatomy & Physiology
of Human Body
Laiba Zahid - Lecturer
BS Operation Theatre Technology(UHS)
Certificate In Medical Teaching(KEMU)
DHPT-FAHS
The University of Lahore 2
BS-OTT, Sem-01

3. Anatomical
Terminology
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4. Learning Objectives
The objectives of this lecture is to give the
understanding of
TheAnatomical position of body
Terms of position or direction
Terms of movement
And their uses in related to anatomy of
human body
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5. Anatomical
Position
In humans, standard
anatomical position is with
the body standing up straight
and facing forward, with
arms by the sides of the
body and palms facing
forward.
The legs are straight, and the
feet are slightly apart from
one another and turned
outward slightly.
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6. Descriptive terms
 Considering the human body in the anatomical
position, various terms are used to describe the
position or relationship of a structure. These are
called terms of position or direction.
 Still other terms, called terms of movement,
are used to describe the movements at joints.
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7. Terms of position
Term Definition
Anterior Toward or at the front of the body
Posterior Toward or at the back of the body
Medial Toward the midline of the body
Lateral Away from the midline of the body
Superior Toward the top of the head
Inferior Toward the sole of the feet
Superficial Nearer to the surface of the body
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10. Term Definition
Deep Away from the surface of the body
Internal Nearer to the interior of the body(or a body part)
External Away from the interior of the body(or a body part)
Proximal Toward the attached end (root) of a structure
Distal Away from the attached end (root) of a structure
Palmar
(Volar)
A special term referring to the anterior surface of
the hand
Planter A special term referring to the sole (bottom) of
the foot
Terms of position
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12. Term Definition
Pre-axial
The lateral or radial border of the upper limb
and the Medial orTibial border of the lower
limb
Post-axial
The medical or ulner border of the upper limb
and the lateral of fibular border of the lower
limb
IpsiLateral
Refers to the same side of the body, e.g., Right
arm and Right leg
Contralateral Refers to the opposite side of the body
Unilateral
Only one side of an organ,the body, or another
structure
Bilateral
Having or relating to two sides; affecting both
sides
Terms of position
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13. (Pre-axial)
(Pre-axial)
(Post-axial)
(Post-axial)
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15. Term Definition
Invagination Inward protrusion of a hollow organ
Evagination Outward protrusion of hollow organ
Flexor Surface
The Ant. Surface of upper limb and Post.
Surface of lower limb
Extensor
Surface
The Post. Surface of upper limb and Anterior
surface of lower limb
Interior Inner part of a hollow organ
Exterior Outer part of a hollow organ
Terms of position
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17. Interior
Exterior
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18. Term Definition
Ventral Is substituted for anterior
Dorsal Is used in place of posterior
Cranial or cephalic
or Rostral
Is substituted for superior
Caudal Is substituted for inferior (caudal mean
toward the tail)
In the head & neck and trunk, alternative
terms are many times used.These are:
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19. Terms of Movement
Various joints of body permit several varieties of
movements. Hence, terms describing movements
are also necessary part of the anatomic terminology.
1. Flexion means a bending movement in which
angle between two bones is decreased.
2. Extension is a straightening motion in which
angle between two bones is increased, i.e., it is
opposite to flexion.
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21. Flexion/Extension
Plantar flexion:
 Point toes/foot downward OR movement of
the foot in which the foot or toes flex
downward towards the sole.
Dorsiflexion:
 Point toes/foot upward OR the action of
raising the foot upward towards the shin.
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23. Hyperextension/Hyperflexion
 Excessive extension of the points at a joint
beyond its normal range of motion, thus
resulting in injury is called hyperextension.
 Hyperflexion is excessive flexion at a joint.
Hyperextension injuries are common at hinge
joints such as the knee and elbow.
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26. Terms of Movement
3. Abduction is action of moving the limb away
from the median plane of the body.
Swinging the hands from the sides of the body up
to the shoulder or higher is abduction.
4. Adduction is reverse of abduction. It is the
movement of a body part towards the body’s
midline.
If a person ha their arms straight out at the
shoulders and bring them down to their sides, it is
adduction. 26

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28. Circumduction
Movement of a limb or extremity so that the distal
end describes a circle while the proximal end
remains fixed.
 Circumduction is a conical movement of a body
part, such as a ball and socket joint or the eye.
 It is a combination of flexion, extension,
adduction and abduction.
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31. Internal rotation/External
rotation
1. Internal rotation (also known as medial
rotation) is rotation towards the center of
the body.
2. External rotation (or lateral rotation) is
rotation away from the center of the body.
Internal and external rotation of the arms
(humerus) occurs at the shoulders, causing the
elbow to rotate.
Internal rotation is rotating a joint towards the
midline; External rotation is rotating a joint away
from the midline.
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32. Internal
Rotation
External
Rotation
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33. Medial rotation/Lateral
rotation
1. Medial rotation is a rotational movement
towards the midline. It is sometimes referred
to as internal rotation.
2. Lateral rotation is a rotating movement away
from the midline. It is sometimes referred to
as external rotation.
Medial and lateral rotation describe
movement of the limbs around their long axis.
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35. Pronation/Supination
1. Rotation of the hand and forearm so that the
palm faces backwards or downwards called
Pronation.
2. Rotation of the forearm and hand so that the
palm faces forward or upward also, is called
Supination.
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36.  The motion of supination turns the palms
anteriorly or superiorly to the supine (face-
up) position. Another way of thinking about
supination is how someone would move their
hands to look at their palms or to hold a bowl of
soup.
 Pronation and supination are a pair of unique
movements possible only in the forearms and
hands, allowing the human body to flip the palm
either face up or face down. In other words,
pronation involves placing the palms into the
prone (face-down) position, like someone
would do when looking at the backs of their
hands.
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39. Eversion/Inversion
1. Eversion is the movement of the sole of the
foot away from the median plane.
2. Inversion is the movement of the sole
towards the median plane.
Inversion and eversion refer to movements that
tilt the sole of the foot away from (eversion) or
towards (inversion) the midline of the body.
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43. References
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All the data of these slides are taken from the
following books;
 GeneralAnatomy by Dr. GhulamAhmad
 Laiq Hussain Siddiqui GENERAL
ANATOMY
 Ross and Wilson ANATOMY and
PHYSIOLOGY in Health and Illness

44. Learning Outcomes
At the end of this course,the students have
learned about
TheAnatomical position of body
Terms of position or direction
Terms of movement
And their uses in related to anatomy of
human body
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