InterActive Medical Terminology
Based on the best selling text: An Introduction to Medical terminology for Health Care (Fourth Edition) by A.R.Hutton published by Elsevier Ltd.
Anatomical position and directional terms
The interactive learning material in this unit is arranged into three short sections.
Scroll down the page completing the exercises in the sequence they are presented.
Section 1: Anatomical position
This short section studies the components of medical words that indicate the position of organs within the body and their relationship to each other. First you need to be aware of the anatomical position, a reference system that all medical staff and anatomical texts use when describing the location of parts of the body. We always refer to positions and directions in a patient as if he/she were standing upright with arms at the sides and palms of the hands facing forward, head erect and eyes looking forward.
With the body in the anatomical position we can draw an imaginary line down the middle of the body. This line is called the midline or median line and it bisects the body into right and left sides.
Note that right and left sides refer to the right and left sides of a patient in the anatomical position, not to the sides of the observer. Anatomy exercise 1 illustrates the anatomical position:
Anatomy Exercise 1
Back to the top of the page ..
Now study directional terms in relation to the anatomical position in Anatomy Exercise 2.
Anatomy Exercise 2
Quick reference
| Superior | = |
towards the head, upper |
| Inferior | = |
away from the head, lower |
| Medial | = |
towards the midline / median line |
| Lateral | = |
away from the midline / median line |
Now study two more directional terms in Anatomy Exercise 3:
Anatomy Exercise 3
Quick reference
| Distal | = |
further away from the point of origin, attachment or reference |
| Proximal | = |
nearer to the point of origin, attachment or reference |
Next study two more directional terms in Anatomy Exercise 4:
Anatomy Exercise 4
Quick reference
| Superficial | = |
near the surface of the body |
| Deep | = |
away from the surface of the body |
Next we'll examine the body in the anatomical position again including a different view or aspect. Notice in Anatomy Exercise 5 that we have a rear view of the body still in the anatomical position.
Anatomy Exercise 5
Quick reference
| Anterior | = |
towards the front, front |
| Posterior | = |
towards the back, back |
| Dorsal | = |
towards the back, back |
| Ventral | = |
towards the front, towards the belly surface |
Now practice using the directional terms in Word Exercise 1:
Word Exercise 1
Finally in this section try matching directional terms to their meanings in Word Exercises 2 and 3. Notice combining forms are components of these words for example anter/o means front, poster/o means back etc.
Word Exercise 2 Matching Words
Word Exercise 3 Matching Words
Back to the top of the page ..
Planes are imaginary flat surfaces that form a reference system indicating the direction in which organs have been cut, drawn or photographed, When a body structure is studied,it is often viewed in section and the section is formed from a cut in relation to one of the planes. Anatomy Exercise 6 summarizes the three main planes of the body.
Anatomy Exercise 6
Finally in this section try matching directional terms to their meanings in Word Exercises 4.
Word Exercise 4 Matching Words
This ends the section on Anatomical Position, Directional Terms and
Planes of the Body
*****