If you said the long limb below your waist (or equivalent), you'd be wrong! Well, okay, it would be correct in everyday conversation. But it is not anatomically correct.
In anatomical terms, the lower limb (lower extremity) is made of up of the thigh, leg, and foot. Anatomically, the leg is only that section of the lower limb just below the knee.
The same sort of thing happens with the arm. In anatomy, the entire upper limb (upper extremity) is not the arm. Only the section above the elbow is the arm. The section just below the elbow is the forearm.
One way to help you remember this is think of pieces of chicken. I realize that not everyone is a meat eater. But those who eat chicken know that it's often served in pieces. A chicken leg is not the entire lower limb--there's another piece just proximal to the leg: the thigh. Remember that, and it may be easier to keep the distinction straight in human anatomy.
Likewise, one can think of the two types of pieces often served in an order of chicken wings. The "drumette," which looks like a mini drumstick, is the arm. The "flat" or "wingette" is the forearm.
I continue to be amazed at how many students let a phrase such as, “when you see something like this on the test . . . “ from their professor go by without notice.
Really?!
Don't they know that this is an intentional statement of what will be on the test?
Professors do this because we know that it's important and that we will be testing you on it. And we're giving you this obvious hint so that you know that you will encounter it again.
I think it takes some training and practice to listen for those hints and respond to them in a way that helps you in the long run. So what's a good way to do that?
Leo Malone, one of my chemistry professors, required us to put a star in our notes next to any concept or fact that he introduced with any statement hinting that we'd see it again on a test. He even stopped class occassionally when he made such a statement to see if we’d put a star in our notes! This habit has stuck with me for decades. I still put a star on notes that I take in workshops, courses, meetings, and my other work. When I review my notes, I start with the stars. I know that these are things that I really need to know or to act on.
In the classes that I teach, I put a star on the whiteboard when I want to emphasize that a point I’m making really is worth remembering.
Why don't you start practicing star power? I'll bet that by listening for verbal cues and making note of them, you'll find better success in your performance.
It works for me and my students—I’m sure it will work for you!
And one of the easiest and fastest ways to practice learning the basic facts and terminology of A&P is to use flash cards.
One great way of using flash cards is to use an online platform for making, studying, and sharing flash cards.
Study Blue is one of the more popular online flashcard tools.
Here's a brief video introducing the philosophy behind Study Blue
With Study Blue you can can create flash cards on your device based on your course needs, then use their automated system to review them. You can also create custom study guides and quizzes based on those flash cards.
Now imagine yourself in A&P lab with a skull. Or a model of the torso. Point to a structure, snap a photo and say, "mastoid process." and you've got a great flash card for studying!
Teachers can assemble sets of flashcards with Study Blue then share them with students. Of course, students can share with their classmates in study groups. For example, in your study group you may assign each person a set of flashcards to make based on your course material. By sharing each of these with the whole study group, everyone now has a whole library of flash cards based on the week's study topics.
Most students don't know how to read their A&P textbook.
Oh yeah, they give it a try. They sit down with the book and try to make it through a couple of chapters. Maybe three or four chapters . . . because, well, er, they've put off reading the book as long as they can. Look at that thing! It's huge! And all the complex terminology!
It's not that they can't read . . . the problem is that they don't have the needed skills to use an A&P textbook effectively.
So how can you get more out of that huge, expensive book? Following are some tips:
1. Look over the organization of the chapter first.
If there's a brief outline in the chapter opener, don't skip it. If there isn't one, then quickly skip the chapter and read each heading and subheading. This gives you the gist of the story and provides a framework in your head upon which you can build your understanding as you read.
2. Read all the key terms out loud before reading.
It sounds crazy, I know. But it works. By saying each word before you read, your brain becomes familiar with the term more quickly. Then, as you read, you won't stumble over the word or simply skip over it--either of which won't help you learn what you need to learn. If there isn't a word list in the chapter, then simply skim the chapter saying each boldface term out loud.
3. Chunk the chapter.
Some textbook chapters go on and on . . . and on. Well, don't let them! Just read one or two sections at a time. By breaking it up, you can comprehend more of what you read. And it spreads the work of reading out over several days, making it less likely that you'll avoid a painfully long reading session.
4. Actively review what you read.
Most textbooks have review questions built into chapter sections and at the end of the chapter. Don't ignore them. Better yet, write out the answers. By using multiple senses, your understanding (and memory) will be strengthened. Always double check that your answers are correct, perhaps asking your study partners or professor for help.
5. Raid your book later.
After you've read a chapter in your textbook, you're not done with the book. As you study the material, or build on it in later parts of the course, you'll want to come back to particular topics and "raid" it for specific bits of information to review again. As you pay attention to the organization of each chapter (see item #1 above), you'll be able to easily find the treasures you need within each chapter.
For more on these tips--plus some additional tips to make your reading easier and more effective--check out the video.
For even more ideas to help you with your textbook, try these:
Anatomy and physiology is something that you'll need the rest of your life!
That's right. Not only will you need a strong foundation in the concepts of human structure and function for remainder of your academic program, you'll need that foundation for the rest of your career and beyond. It's the basis for all clinical practice and research.
Some A&P students already have some skills in getting ideas into their short-term memories. Enough to pass the test. Then they relearn those ideas for the exam. But often, much of it is gone months or years down the road. How can one get it all into long-term memory?
The answer is easy!
Practice.
Practice.
Practice.
A few months ago, I wrote about the Wallenda model of homeostasis, using the Wallenda family of high-wire fame as an analogy for how the internal environment of the body maintains its vital balance. Decades ago, when I was a wild animal trainer in the circus, I asked Tino Wallenda the secret to his great talent as a high-wire artist. He told me, "Practice. Practice. Practice." That really resonated with me. I already knew that constant practice is the key to animal training. Later, when I began teaching [human] students, I realized that no learning "sticks" without a lot of practice.
It's a simple principle. But how do you put it into play in your A&P studies? Here are a few tips to get you started:
Read the book more than once. Break each chapter into chunks (sections) and read just a bit every day. When you get to the end of the chapter, start the cycle again. You'll be surprised at how much more you see and learn on a second or third reading. It begins to "sink in" after repeated reading. Don't forget to go back and occasinally re-read chapters you haven't looked at in a while.
Do as much homework as you can. If your instructor doesn't assign homework, then assign it to yourself. Write out the answers to the review questions at the end of each chapter in your textbook. Find a study guide (perhaps there is one that supplements your textbook--ask your bookstore or search online).
Make and use flash cards. You can learn and practice terminology easily with flash cards. But more advanced methods can be used to sort out relationships and understand the deeper concepts of A&P, as you can see in the video below. You can also use published study cards to practice.
Take the test repeatedly. Ask your teacher if they have old tests you can use for review. If not, then make up your own! This works even better if you have a study group--you can each prepare a test for the others to take. Review your old tests. If you don't have them in hand, try to remember the questions that were on them.
Do your practice every day. Break your reading and other practice activities into chunks of about a half hour. Then do several half-hour practices throughout the day. Every day. Holidays, weekends, and your birthday. Really. If you skip a day, you'll feel it. So try not to skip.
We all get it. That nervous—sometimes paralyzing—anxiety just before a big exam. Or worse—we panic and forget even the simplest things during a big test.
Test anxiety. It’s not just annoying, it can affect your performance. And your grades!
And final exams are almost upon us.
Recent research has revealed an easy and effective trick for reducing test anxiety during your next big test. You do this trick just before the test. I mean in the few minutes you have just before the text begins. You know, that time you are sitting in the hallway nervously awaiting for the doors to open and the test to begin. Listening to your classmates talk about all that stuff you’re not sure you know well enough. Frantically going over your notes one last time. Making yourself a nervous wreck.
OK, so what is this nifty trick?
Journal your anxiety.
What?! Write out my feelings like in a middle-school diary?
Well, yes—sort of. Research shows that if you take about ten minutes to write out (not just think about) your feelings at the moment, you’ll feel less anxious during your exam. And because of that (the research shows) you will do better on the exam!
On average, students that use this technique raise their grade and average of one whole letter grade. So even if you think it’s silly, isn’t it worth trying?
Students in a research study reported that by writing out their feelings, they quickly got to a point of calm and confidence. The writing somehow took the energy out of the anxiety and replaced nervousness with readiness.
So on exam day. Get there ten minutes early. Ignore the raving of your frantic pals. And just write what’s going through your head. When the exam starts, you’ll be ready for it.
Want to know more?
Read the story behind this trick:
Testing Anxiety: Researchers Find Solution To Help Students Cope my-ap.us/TlD6Ba
Check out my advice on breathing to reduce test anxiety:
Making concept maps or "mind maps" is a great way to learn A&P. It's also a great way to study for your midterm or final exam!
As I've stated frequently in previous posts, a concept map is simply a drawing of a concept. The simpler the better, so there's no need for artistic skills.
One of my students recently make me aware of another FREE tool you can use to make your own concept maps quickly and easily. It's called Edraw Mindmap.
If you want to see how it works, check out the Edraw video Make an Effective Mind Map. This video has a funky robotic narration, but it gives you a quick rundown on how easy the software is to use. Maybe you should turn off the sound and play your favorite music (the narration simply speaks tips that clearly printed in the video).
One of the most recognizable muscles of the human body is also sometimes the hardest to figure out. I'm talking about the trapezius muscle. How can it both elevate the shoulder anddepress it? And also produce so many other diverse movements?
The folks at Visible Body have offered a FREE helper to explore the trapezius. It called the Trapezius Digital Kit and it provides both a downloadable mini eBook and a downloadable video.
Here's a nifty little game that helps you practice applying principles of blood typing. The game has you type the blood of a series of "patients" then figure out which blood units are appropriate to use in a transfusion.
It's pretty simple IF you know the principles of blood typing.
First, review blood typing in your textbook.
Then try your hand at this game:
If you can't see the game in this blog window, go directly to my-ap.us/SYuJXo
The folks at Visible Body are offering a FREE mini eBook that clearly illustrates and summarizes the 22 bones of the skull.
This handy little gem will help you get started studying the bones of skull and provide a valuable addition to your set of study resources. The three dimensional views of the skull will help give you a deeper understanding of the structure of the skull.
It also gives you an introduction to Visible Body's computer-based anatomy study tools.
Learning about all the factors that affect blood flow can be daunting. One of the tough things about it is trying to visualize how all the factors influence blood flow.
One factor affecting blood flow is peripheral resistance. This is the resistance to blood flow in the peripheral vessels . . . the arterioles.
What kinds of things can cause blood to "resist" flowing as freely as possible? Well, one factor is the viscosity of blood. One way to think of viscosity is "thickness" of a fluid. What makes blood thick? One factor is how concentrated the red blood cells (RBCs) are in each drop of blood. Is is often expressed as the PCV (packed cell volume) or hematocrit of blood. The more blood cells there are in a drop of blood, the thicker--or more viscous--the blood is. And the more it resists flow.
An analogy we can use to visualize this rather abstract concept is any of the classic TV commercials once used by Heinz to promote their ketchup. Heinz claimed that their ketchup is better than other brands because it has more tomatoes per bottle of ketchup. And that, presumably, can be demonstrated by the comparative thickness of their ketchup. In other words, Heinz ketchup is more viscous than some other brands of ketchup.
As the commmercial below demonstrates, the extra thickness or viscosity of Heinz ketchup means that it will flow at an incredibly slow rate.
So to summarize this analogy:
More tomatoes per bottle of ketchup make the ketchup thicker, or more viscous. The higher the viscosity of ketchup, the more it resists flow and thus the slower it will flow out the narrow neck of a tipped bottle.
Likewise, more RBCs per drop of blood make the blood thicker, or more viscous. The higher the viscosity of blood, the more it resists flow. This resistance can be significant where the blood vessels narrow at the peripheral vessels called arterioles.
In a previous post, I addressed that initial struggle with anatomical terminology when beginning a course in anatomy & physiology. In this post, I'll pick up with another early--but essential--set of concepts: planes of the body.
As with any concept of A&P, one shortcut to understanding is to connect the concept to something simple that you already know about. Let's see how that could work with anatomical body planes.
If
you saw a person so that there is a top part and bottom part of their
body, then you’ve cut along a TRANSVERSE or HORIZONTAL plane. Either
term can be used. They both mean the same thing. It doesn’t have to be
equal top and bottom halves . . . ANY separation of top and bottom is a
cut along a transverse plane.
If
you saw a person into left and right pieces, you are sawing along a
SAGITTAL plane. The word sagittal literally means “relating to an
arrow” used in archery. So imagine shooting an arrow into an apple that
is sitting on top of my head . . . and then imagine the apple falling
apart into a left and right piece as the arrow slices through it.
That’s a sagittal cut . . . a cut along a sagittal plane.
If
the sagittal plane is exactly in the middle, dividing the body along
its midline into equal left and right halves, we call that plane a
MIDSAGITTAL plane. If instead the plane is off to one side or another,
splitting the body into unequal pieces, it’s simply called a SAGITTAL
plan.
If you saw a person into front and back pieces, you are cutting along a FRONTAL plane or CORONAL plane.
Again, seeing this visually is a good idea.
First, study the images of body planes in your A&P textbook and lab manual. If you are using one of my textbooks or manuals, you can find a handy diagram of the planes of the body just inside the front or back cover. By looking at many different diagrams, you'll get a better understanding of the essential concept of body planes . . . as well as plenty of practice.
Try constructing a three-dimensional "paper doll" model that resembles the diagram shown here. Or any kind of simple, hands-on model. Such activities may seem like a childish project, but it engages many parts of your brain and thus strengthens your learning . . . and your memory.
You may find this FREE mini-course to be helpful. It's called simply Anatomical Directions and it's provided as a free service from Insight Medical Academy. It requires a free registration to use the course, so be sure to register before trying to access the course. Here's a brief video explaining how the free course works.
When starting out in A&P, it's important to get a good grasp of how we talk about directions in the human body. That's so that we can get down to business and really start describing human structures. Describing them in a way that is accurate enough to be really clear on where those structures are in the body.
The problem is that most of us feel overwhelmed when a long list of rather foreign terms and concepts seem to suddently fall on top of us and make it hard to breathe!
A good approach is to stay calm and look for ways to connect these ideas to simple concepts that are already familiar to us. Following are some examples to get a good start.
Think of the directions of the body as you would ordinary directions like UP, DOWN, FORWARD, BACKWARD, etc.:
Superior UP
Inferior DOWN
Anterior FORWARD
Posterior BACKWARD
Lateral TOWARD THE SIDE
Medial TOWARD THE MIDDLE
Proximal NEAR THE BEGINNING
Distal AWAY FROM THE BEGINNING
Notice that the directions above are grouped into opposite pairs. This is a good way to think of them . . . as pairs of opposites.
Now try the same with these directions:
(Anatomical) Left
(Anatomical) Right
Dorsal
Ventral
Cortical
Medullary
Now look at the diagrams showing anatomical directions in your A&P textbook and lab manual. If you are using one of my textbooks or manuals
, you can find a handy diagram along with a list of direction terms just inside the front or back cover. My books and manuals also use a an anatomical compass rosette in every illustration, pointing you in the right direction just like the compass rosette found on any ordinary map.
Then try to find similar diagrams by doing an internet image search for "anatomical directions." The more diagrams you look at, the more it will become clear how
the directions are used.
Next, try searching for some YouTube videos that explain the anatomical directions of the body. Here’s a really good one:
But this is just the beginning. To truly understand them . . . and to be able to recall them quickly and easily as you must during your A&P course . . . you need to PRACTICE using them. How you ask? Aha! I have some strategies that are both fun and effective:
Start using them in every conversation. Explain to your friends or family that the remote is superior to to the television screen but you are about to move it to a position inferior to the screen. Explain that your pocket is on the lateral side of your jeans. "Hey look, my shoelaces are dorsal!" Yes, it's goofy. But that's part of what makes it effective. And your friends and family will love helping you study. Really. The important thing is to do it frequently and throughout each day . . . until you have reached total mastery.
Label your body. Yep, you read that correctly. Remember when you were a little kid and you labeled one shoe "left" and one shoe "right" so you could learn your left from your right? What?! You didn't do that? Well, if you had then you'd have learned that lesson far more quickly. Well, here's your chance! Pin "proximal" and "distal" labels on your sleeve. Pin a "superior" label on your hat. Then add an "anterior" label to the front of your hat and a "posterior" label on the back. Yes, another goofy strategy. But it's one that works, while also letting others join in the silliness.
An extra advantage of this strategy is that when folks see the labels and ask about them, you will be reminded to practice them. "Oh yeah, I forgot about those labels. Here, let me explain them to you." Both the reminder and your explanation of each one will continue to give you the practice you need to master your anatomical directions.
Use flash cards to practice anatomical directions. If you're not already familiar with the many ways to use flash cards to quickly and thoroughly learn anatomical concepts and terminology, check out my many posts describing this method.
In an upcoming post, I'll follow up with some strategies for learning the planes of the body.
One of the first major challenges in learning A&P is learning all the bones and bone features of the human skeleton. Many students have not had much experience in memorizing physical structures to be identified by sight.
This video from my friend Paul Krieger is a good place to start. It summarizes some of the basic shortcuts and tips that will help you learn the human skeleton . . . tips that will help you learn any anatomical structures of the human body.
Here are some additional links related to Professor Krieger's "10 tips"
Here's another resource from Professor Krieger that my own students find to be very helpful in learning the human skeleton as well as other concepts of A&P
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, you can find a handy diagram of the planes of the body just inside the front or back cover. 
