Anatomical Terms Of Movement

Question 1

Anatomical terms of movement

Answer 1

are used to describe the actions of muscles upon the skeleton.

Question 2

Flexion

Answer 2

refers to a movement that decreases the angle between two body parts. Flexion at the elbow is decreasing the angle between the ulna and the humerus. When the knee flexes, the ankle moves closer to the buttock, and the angle between the femur and tibia gets smaller.

Question 3

Extension

Answer 3

refers to a movement that increases the angle between two body parts. Extension at the elbow is increasing the angle between the ulna and the humerus. Extension of the knee straightens the lower limb.

Question 4

Abduction

Answer 4

is a movement away from the midline – just as abducting someone is to take them away. For example, abduction of the shoulder raises the arms out to the sides of the body.

Question 5

Adduction

Answer 5

is a movement towards the midline. Adduction of the hip squeezes the legs together.

Question 6

Flexion and Extension

Answer 6

are movements that occur in the sagittal plane. They refer to increasing and decreasing the angle between two body parts:

Question 7

Abduction and Adduction

Answer 7

are two terms that are used to describe movements towards or away from the midline of the body.

Question 8

Medial and Lateral Rotation

Answer 8

describe movement of the limbs around their long axis:

Question 9

Medial rotation

Answer 9

is a rotational movement towards the midline. It is sometimes referred to as internal rotation. To understand this, we have two scenarios to imagine. Firstly, with a straight leg, rotate it to point the toes inward. This is medial rotation of the hip. Secondly, imagine you are carrying a tea tray in front of you, with elbow at 90 degrees. Now rotate the arm, bringing your hand towards your opposite hip (elbow still at 90 degrees). This is internal rotation of the shoulder.

Question 10

Lateral rotation

Answer 10

is a rotating movement away from the midline. This is in the opposite direction to the movements described above.

Question 11

Elevation

Answer 11

refers to movement in a superior direction (e.g. shoulder shrug),

Question 12

Depression

Answer 12

refers to movement in an inferior direction.

Question 13

Pronation and supination

Answer 13

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.

Question 14

supination

Answer 14

With your hand resting on a table in front of you, and keeping your shoulder and elbow still, turn your hand onto its back, palm up. This is the supine position.

Question 15

pronation

Answer 15

keeping the elbow and shoulder still, flip your hand onto its front, palm down. This is the prone position.

Question 16

Dorsiflexion and Plantarflexion

Answer 16

are terms used to describe movements at the ankle. They refer to the two surfaces of the foot; the dorsum (superior surface) and the plantar surface (the sole).

Question 17

Dorsiflexion

Answer 17

refers to flexion at the ankle, so that the foot points more superiorly. Dorsiflexion of the hand is a confusing term, and so is rarely used. The dorsum of the hand is the posterior surface, and so movement in that direction is extension. Therefore we can say that dorsiflexion of the wrist is the same as extension.

Question 18

Plantarflexion

Answer 18

refers extension at the ankle, so that the foot points inferiorly. Similarly there is a term for the hand, which is palmarflexion.

Question 19

Inversion and Eversion

Answer 19

are movements which occur at the ankle joint, referring to the rotation of the foot around its long axis.

Question 20

Inversion

Answer 20

involves the movement of the sole towards the median plane – so that the sole faces in a medial direction.

Question 21

Eversion

Answer 21

involves the movement of the sole away from the median plane – so that the sole faces in a lateral direction.

Question 22

Opposition and Reposition

Answer 22

A pair of movements that are limited to humans and some great apes, these terms apply to the additional movements that the hand and thumb can perform in these species.

Question 23

Opposition

Answer 23

brings the thumb and little finger together.

Question 24

Reposition

Answer 24

is a movement that moves the thumb and the little finger away from each other, effectively reversing opposition.

Question 25

Circumduction

Answer 25

can be defined as a conical movement of a limb extending from the joint at which the movement is controlled.

It is sometimes talked about as a circular motion, but is more accurately conical due to the ‘cone’ formed by the moving limb.

Question 26

Protraction

Answer 26

describes the anterolateral movement of the scapula on the thoracic wall that allows the shoulder to move anteriorly. In practice, this is the movement of ‘reaching out’ to something.

Question 27

Retraction

Answer 27

refers to the posteromedial movement of the scapula on the thoracic wall, which causes the shoulder region to move posteriorly i.e. picking something up.