01. Directional Terms & Body Planes

Question 1

adjective stating that a body part is in front of something else

Answer 1

anterior

Question 2

adjective stating that a body part is behind something else

Answer 2

posterior

Question 3

adjective can be used interchangeably with ‘anterior’

Answer 3

ventral

Question 4

adjective sometimes used interchangeably with ‘posterior’

Answer 4

dorsal

The trapezius, shown in the image can be said to be a muscle of the posterior trunk or of the dorsal trunk.

Question 5

a body part that exists on either side of the body is called…

Answer 5

bilateral

Question 6

distal (to) means…?

Answer 6

Often used in the context of your uppper or lower limbs. Indicates that a body part is away/further away from the trunk.
The wrist joint is distal to the elbow joint.
In the context of the gastro-intestinal tract, distal means ‘in the direction of the anus.

Question 7

terminal

Answer 7

refers to a structure that is most distal
The terminal branches of the sciatic nerve are the tibial nerve and the common fibular nerve.

in the lower thigh, the sciatic nerve splits into the nerves referred to.

Question 8

proximal

Answer 8

closer to the trunk or the point of origin

Often met in the context of upper or lower limbs. For instance, the elbow joint is proximal to the wrist joint.

Question 9

median

Answer 9

either:
the line dividing the body left/right - also known as midline
or
refers to the most central organ/structure in a limb, the torso or the head

Question 10

medial (not median)

Answer 10

often confused with median
means either:
* something pointing towards or close to the median line
or
* when a body part is closer than another to the median, for example, the ring finger is medial to the middle finger (meaning it’s closer to the middle finger than the pinkie

Question 11

lateral

Answer 11

pointing away from the median line (midline)

One can say that the middle finger is lateral to the ring finger.

Question 12

superior

Answer 12

towards the vertex

e.g. the nose is superior to the mouth

Question 13

supra
(from super - used a compound words)

Answer 13

e.g. supraclavicular - in this case, supraclavicular lymph nodes

Question 14

inferior

Answer 14

of a body part that is lower than another, e.g. the mouth is inferior to the nose

in compound words, ‘inferior’ becomes ‘infra’, ‘hypo’ or ‘sub’

Question 15

combining directional terms:
superior + lateral = ?

Answer 15

superolateral
the ear is superolateral to the mouth

Question 16

combining directional terms:
how are the terms below modified when combined with other terms?
* superior
* inferior
* anterior
* posterior
* ventral
* dorsal
* medial
* lateral

Answer 16

• supero-
• infero-
• antero-
• postero-
• ventro-
• dorso-
• medio-
• latero-

Question 17

superficial

Answer 17

a structure closer to the surface of the body than another
e.g. the ribs are superficial to the organs of the thorax

Question 18

deep

Answer 18

the opposite of superficial
e.g. the great vessels are deep structures of the thorax

Question 19

external

Answer 19

open to the outside
e.g. the ear and its canal up to the tympanum

Question 20

extra
(used as the forepart of a compound word)

Answer 20

derived from ‘external’, in the sense of most external in a structure or group of structures, e.g. extraocular muscles = the most external structures in the eyeball.
the internal abdominal oblique muscle is so-called because there is one above it, there is the exernal abdominal oblique muscle.