Anatomical directional terms and body planes represent a universally accepted language of anatomy, allowing precise communication between anatomists and health professionals. The terms used to explain anatomical positioning are described in relation to one standard position called the anatomical position. This position is used to describe body parts and positions of patients regardless if they are lying down, on their side or facing down. In the anatomical position, the person is standing upright with arms to the side with the palms facing forward and thumbs pointing away from the body, feet slightly apart and parallel to each other with the toes pointing forward and the head facing forward and the eyes looking straight ahead.
Directional terms allow description of one body part in relation to another. Anterior indicates that the body part in question is “in front of” or “front”. Posterior indicates that it is “in behind of” or “behind”. Ventral denotes towards the front of the body and dorsal means towards the back of the body. Right indicates to the “right side of” and left indicates to the “left side of”. Distal indicates that it is away or farthest away from the trunk of the body or the point of origin of the body part. Proximal means that it is closest or towards the trunk of the body or point of origin. Median or midline is an imaginary line down the middle of the body that splits the body into equal left and right parts. Medial is towards the median whereas lateral is away from the median and towards the side of the body. Lateral (posterior view)Superior is upwards or towards the vertex/top of the head whereas inferior indicates the opposite: below or towards the feet. Sometimes known as superficial, external denotes towards the surface. Internal is also known as deep and denotes that it is away from the body surface. Frontal refers towards the front of the brain whereas occipital means towards the back of the brain. Body planes are imaginary planes or flat surfaces that cut through and section the body in its anatomical position. The coronal plane is a vertical plane that divides the body into anterior (front) and posterior (back) parts. The sagittal plane is also a vertical plane that splits the body into left and right parts. A sagittal plane that runs directly through the midline is also called the midsagittal plane or median plane. The transverse plane is a horizontal plane. It divides the body into superior (upper) and inferior (lower) portions. In anatomy, they are also referred to as a cross section. Now that you learned everything about the directional terms and body planes, put that knowledge to the test with the quiz below!
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Bored by anatomy? Try this ➞ When an organism is in its standard anatomical position, positional descriptive terms are used to indicate regions and features. Learning Objectives Key Points
Key Terms
Standard anatomical position is the body orientation used when describing an organism’s anatomy. Standardization is necessary to avoid confusion since most organisms can take on many different positions that may change the relative placement of organs. All descriptions refer to the organism in its standard anatomical position, even when the organism’s appendages are in another position. Thus, the standard anatomical position provides a “gold standard” when comparing the anatomy of different members of the same species. Relative location in the anatomical position: Many terms are used to describe relative location on the body. Cranial refers to features closer to the head, while caudal refers to features closer to the feet. The front of the body is referred to as anterior or ventral, while the back is referred to as posterior or dorsal. Proximal and distal describe relative position on the limbs. Proximal refers to a feature that is closer to the torso, while distal refers to a feature that is closer to the fingers/toes. Medial and lateral refer to position relative to the midline, which is a vertical line drawn through the center of the forehead, down through the belly button to the floor. Medial indicates a feature is closer to this line, while lateral indicates features further from this line.
The standard anatomical position is agreed upon by the international medical community. In this position, a person is standing upright with the lower limbs together or slightly apart, feet flat on the floor and facing forward, upper limbs at the sides with the palms facing forward and thumbs pointing away from the body, and head and eyes directed straight ahead. In addition, the arms are usually placed slightly apart from the body so that the hands do not touch the sides. The positions of the limbs, particularly the arms, have important implications for directional terms in those appendages. The basis for the standard anatomical position in humans comes from the supine position used for examining human cadavers during autopsies. Dissection of cadavers was one of the primary ways humans learned about anatomy throughout history, which has tremendously influenced the ways by which anatomical knowledge has developed into the scientific field of today. Standard anatomical position: The regions of the body in standard anatomical position, in which the body is erect. In humans, the standard anatomical position of the skull is called the Frankfurt plane. In this position, the orbitales (eye sockets), lower margins of the orbits, and the poria (ear canal upper margins) all lie in the same horizontal plane. This orientation represents the position of the skull if the subject were standing upright and looking straight ahead. It is important to note that all anatomical descriptions are based on the standard anatomical position unless otherwise stated. |
The directional terms of human anatomy assume that a person is in , which means standing upright with the feet together and the palms, face, and eyes forward.
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