Welcome to Your Body!
"Anatomy and Physiology" is like a journey of exploration through the human body to gain an understanding of its parts (structure) and how it works (function) and how they are interrelated. Most of us are curious about our bodies and how they function, whether or not we are taking a required class for a profession, or just simply want to know. This site was designed to help you gain a basic understanding of these concepts no matter what occupation you are in or pursuing.
|
STARTING WITH BASIC TERMINOLOGY:
Understanding basic anatomical medical terminology is crucial in the medical field for professionally and accurately naming and describing specific regions and organs in communicating test requests, results, and recommendations to healthcare professionals and to patients, and interpreting and analyzing this information in terms of conversation, reports, radiographic films, orders, and many other things. This is the terminology you will regularly see and use in these career fields, so you need to understand it and also be able to correctly spell the terms.
STARTS WITH THE SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY:
Scientific inquiry is key to understanding, analyzing, problem-solving, and growing in knowledge. A great tool used in science and medicine is the scientific method, a series of systematic steps to solving a problem or approaching a discovery or research. You use this in everyday life without thinking about it, but in science courses, you learn to define each step and become mindful about how each is being applied and define it. This is the key to laboratory experiments, and later, if you go into a field in medicine, radiology, dentistry, emergency medicine, echocardiography, ultrasound, occupational or physical therapy, chemistry, engineering, biology, astronomy, physics, microbiology, nursing, medical assisting, health information technology, patient care tech, or other closely related field, you will need this tool to analyze issues, solve problems, make discoveries about signs and symptoms and syndromes, be aware of patterns, aid in diagnoses, perform your own research, educate others, and find solutions.
First, one makes observations using their eyes, ears, sense of touch/feel, smell, and even taste to make discoveries and to be aware of what is going on around them. This leads to asking questions, getting background information, more questions, and leads to proposing an educated guess, tentative explanation, or hypothesis. Using inductive reasoning (your background knowledge/subjective observations/pattern-recognition) and deductive reasoning ("if...then..." logic to "deduce" or rule out one thing and narrow it down), you begin to make a prediction about something. This leads to the test or experiment. The testing process itself is referred to as "experimentation". This may mean a laboratory experiment, hands-on exercise, clinical trial, clinic laboratory test, radiograph, scan, genetic test, or something along those lines. The experimentation process involves experimental design, knowing which materials to use, relying on consistency, positive and negative controls for quality control and comparison, or, in a clinical trial, a test group or groups, a control group, and sometimes, a placebo. Accurate measurement, documentation, and labeling are so important. Recording of data (information or results) is next, which is collected, analyzed, determined to be valid or invalid, determined if there was bias involved, and the statistics are displayed on visual pie charts, bar graphs, line graphs, bell curves, or other similar items to compare results.
At this point, if the results of the experimentation support the hypothesis, results can be published and reviewed by peers, whether that be in a scientific journal, textbook, newsletter, learning management system (LMS), or laboratory information system (LIS) where healthcare personnel can see results, as long as it is a primary, credible, valid, reliable source. As you come to the last step, a conclusion, the hypothesis can be accepted as tentatively true if the experimentation supported it and the prediction was true. If the results of the experimentation did not support the hypothesis, or it was not true, then the experiment may be repeated, the hypothesis may be modified or a new one created and the original one rejected. If the results of the experiment are consistent and widely accepted, and the level of confidence increases, it then may become a theory, which is broader than a hypothesis.
First, one makes observations using their eyes, ears, sense of touch/feel, smell, and even taste to make discoveries and to be aware of what is going on around them. This leads to asking questions, getting background information, more questions, and leads to proposing an educated guess, tentative explanation, or hypothesis. Using inductive reasoning (your background knowledge/subjective observations/pattern-recognition) and deductive reasoning ("if...then..." logic to "deduce" or rule out one thing and narrow it down), you begin to make a prediction about something. This leads to the test or experiment. The testing process itself is referred to as "experimentation". This may mean a laboratory experiment, hands-on exercise, clinical trial, clinic laboratory test, radiograph, scan, genetic test, or something along those lines. The experimentation process involves experimental design, knowing which materials to use, relying on consistency, positive and negative controls for quality control and comparison, or, in a clinical trial, a test group or groups, a control group, and sometimes, a placebo. Accurate measurement, documentation, and labeling are so important. Recording of data (information or results) is next, which is collected, analyzed, determined to be valid or invalid, determined if there was bias involved, and the statistics are displayed on visual pie charts, bar graphs, line graphs, bell curves, or other similar items to compare results.
At this point, if the results of the experimentation support the hypothesis, results can be published and reviewed by peers, whether that be in a scientific journal, textbook, newsletter, learning management system (LMS), or laboratory information system (LIS) where healthcare personnel can see results, as long as it is a primary, credible, valid, reliable source. As you come to the last step, a conclusion, the hypothesis can be accepted as tentatively true if the experimentation supported it and the prediction was true. If the results of the experimentation did not support the hypothesis, or it was not true, then the experiment may be repeated, the hypothesis may be modified or a new one created and the original one rejected. If the results of the experiment are consistent and widely accepted, and the level of confidence increases, it then may become a theory, which is broader than a hypothesis.
Biology:
Biology is the study of life and living things. "Bio" means "life" and "ology" means "the study of". In essentials of A&P, one of the goals is to study human life, structure and function, and the patterns of diversity.
Life and Living Things: Common Properties:
In order to call something living or alive, it needs to display not just one, but ALL of the following things:
|
Anatomy:
|
Physiology:
- Of Greek origin
- Means the study of the function of
- Metabolic activities of the body
- Studied in terms of biochemistry and experiments
- Explained in anatomical terms:
- Cellular (cell physiology)
- Tissue (cells working together to perform a common function)
- Organs (special physiology)
- Organ systems (systemic physiology)
- Effects of diseases (pathophysiology/pathology)
Levels of Organization in the Human Body:
|
11 Major Organ Systems of the Human Body:
- Integumentary System: skin, linings of organs and coverings of organs, mucous membranes, hair, nails)
- Skeletal System: cartilage, bones, joints, ligaments
- Muscular System: muscles, tendons, fascia, aponeuroses
- Nervous System: brain, spinal cord, nerves, neurons, neuroglia
- Endocrine System: glands, hormone (signal) secretions
- Cardiovascular System: heart, blood vessels, blood
- Lymphatic System: lymphatic vessels, lymph nodes, lymph, thymus, spleen
- Respiratory System: upper and lower, mouth, pharynx, larynx, lungs, nasal passages, trachea
- Digestive System: begins at the mouth and ends at the anus and includes everything between (mouth, esophagus, stomach, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, small intestine, large intestine, rectum, anus)
- Urinary System: pair of kidneys, pair of ureters, bladder, urethra
- Reproductive System: male (testes, epididymis, sperm), female (ovaries, ova, uterus, cervix, fallopian tubes, mammary glands) and sex organs
Homeostasis:
|
Negative Feedback Loops:
By OpenStax - https://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:fEI3C8Ot@10/Preface, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30131132
|
Positive Feedback Loops: (Labor and Delivery; Blood-Clotting Mechanism)
By OpenStax - https://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:fEI3C8Ot@10/Preface, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30131134
|
Anatomical Terminology:
- Medical terminology
- Based on Greek or Latin language
- Includes terms describing body regions, landmarks, directions, sections
Anatomical Position: Standing:
In this position, an individual is standing with feet apart (shoulder width), toes pointing forward, head facing forward, arms to the side, outward, palms forward, thumbs facing outward.
Regional Terms of the Human Body:
ANATOMICAL POSITION AND DIRECTIONAL TERMS:
ANTERIOR/VENTRAL: Front/Facing forward/Palms facing forward/In front of
VENTRAL: Toward the belly
POSTERIOR/DORSAL: Back/Back of palms/In back of
CRANIAL/SUPERIOR: Up towards the cranium, or brain; Above
CAUDAL/INFERIOR: Down towards the feet; Below
PROXIMAL: Closest to the heart; toward or nearest to the trunk or toward the point of origin
DISTAL: Furthest from the heart or the trunk or the point of origin
MEDIAL: Closest to the midline (center/core/belly button)
LATERAL: Furthest from the midline (center/core/belly button); toward the side of the body; away from the midline
PAIRED or BILATERAL: On both sides
SUPERIOR: Above/over/upper; toward the head
INFERIOR: Below/under/lower; toward the feet
SUPERFICIAL: near to the surface
DEEP: further away from the surface
VENTRAL: Toward the belly
POSTERIOR/DORSAL: Back/Back of palms/In back of
CRANIAL/SUPERIOR: Up towards the cranium, or brain; Above
CAUDAL/INFERIOR: Down towards the feet; Below
PROXIMAL: Closest to the heart; toward or nearest to the trunk or toward the point of origin
DISTAL: Furthest from the heart or the trunk or the point of origin
MEDIAL: Closest to the midline (center/core/belly button)
LATERAL: Furthest from the midline (center/core/belly button); toward the side of the body; away from the midline
PAIRED or BILATERAL: On both sides
SUPERIOR: Above/over/upper; toward the head
INFERIOR: Below/under/lower; toward the feet
SUPERFICIAL: near to the surface
DEEP: further away from the surface
Anatomical Position: Lying Down
- Supine: lying on back, face-up
- Prone: lying on stomach, face-down
THE PLANES AND QUADRANTS OF THE BODY:
Planes: 2-Dimensional Sections:
The individual organs of the body, or sections/segments, are often subdivided or "cut" into smaller segments, which are done during dissections as actual cuts, or which are done virtually on CT or MRI scans. Each cut is referred to as a section, divided by a theoretical flat plane.
THE PLANES:
Frontal/Coronal Plane: Cuts you in half in front (anterior)/back (posterior) halves from the crown (corona), lengthwise, running from side-to-side
Transverse Plane: Cuts you in half in upper/superior (cranial) and lower/inferior (caudal) halves and is also referred to as a cross-section
Sagittal Plane: Cuts you in right and left vertical halves lengthwise
THE PLANES:
Frontal/Coronal Plane: Cuts you in half in front (anterior)/back (posterior) halves from the crown (corona), lengthwise, running from side-to-side
Transverse Plane: Cuts you in half in upper/superior (cranial) and lower/inferior (caudal) halves and is also referred to as a cross-section
Sagittal Plane: Cuts you in right and left vertical halves lengthwise
- Midsagittal or Median: Cuts you right down the middle into equal right and left vertical halves
- Parasagittal or Longitudinal: Cuts you down the middle into unequal right and left vertical halves
The 4 Abdominal Quadrants:
RUQ: right upper quadrant
|
The Abdomen is Divided Into 9 Regions:
Epigastric region: upper central, just below sternum; this is where the esophagus meets the stomach and where heartburn occurs
Umbilical region: central region in the middle/core; naval; belly button; lower part of the stomach (duodenum), the transverse colon, and much of the small intestine are located here Hypogastric region: lower central region; pelvis; small intestine; urogenital tract; bladder and urethra; anus and rectum located here Right hypochondriac region: upper right; ribs; bulk of liver; gallbladder here Left hypochondriac region: upper left; ribs; part of liver; pancreas here Right lumbar region: mid-right side; right kidney and ureter here; ileum; ascending colon; low back Left lumbar region: mid-left side; left kidney and ureter here; descending colon; low back Right iliac region: lower-right side; cecum; appendix; ovary; iliac crest/hip Left iliac region: lower-left side; sigmoid colon; ovary; iliac crest/hip |
Quadrants and Regions of the Abdomen, Showing the Organs in Each Area:
Regions of the Body and Anatomical Surface Landmarks:
These are the professional terms that accurately describe specific regions of the body and are often referred to as "surface landmarks", along with other things:
By Connexions / OpenStax - https://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:fEI3C8Ot@10/Preface, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29624317
Body Movements I:
BODY MOVEMENTS II:
DORSIFLEXION: flexion of the foot up at the ankle, decreasing the angle between body parts
PLANTARFLEXION: flexion of the foot down at the ankle, increasing the angle between body parts
PRONATION/PRONE: on the belly, facedown, palm or sole facing down/posteriorly
SUPINATION/SUPINE: on the back, face up, palm or sole facing up anteriorly
EVERSION: movement of the foot/sole away from the midline
INVERSION: movement of the foot/sole towards the midline
PLANTARFLEXION: flexion of the foot down at the ankle, increasing the angle between body parts
PRONATION/PRONE: on the belly, facedown, palm or sole facing down/posteriorly
SUPINATION/SUPINE: on the back, face up, palm or sole facing up anteriorly
EVERSION: movement of the foot/sole away from the midline
INVERSION: movement of the foot/sole towards the midline
Origin and Insertion:
Insertion: on the bone moving towards the origin during muscle contraction
Origin: where the muscle connects to the bone
Origin: where the muscle connects to the bone
Body Cavities:
- Two Major Body Cavities:
- Dorsal Body Cavity: includes the space inside the skull containing the brain
- Cranial Cavity: contains the brain
- Spinal Cavity: contains the spinal cord
- Ventral Body Cavity: located in a ventral position in the body
- Thoracic Cavity: chest cavity; protects the lungs
- Mediastinum: midportion of the thoracic cavity
- Trachea
- Heart
- Blood vessels
- Trachea
- Pleural Cavities: right and left (house each lung)
- Mediastinum: midportion of the thoracic cavity
- Diaphragm: dome-shaped muscle that separates the thoracic and abdominopelvic cavities
- Abdominopelvic Cavity: contains the abdominal cavity and the pelvic cavity
- Abdominal Cavity: houses the stomach, most of the large intestine, much of the small intestine, liver, kidneys, pancreas, gallbladder, spleen, appendix
- Pelvic Cavity: houses the bladder, uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, lower sigmoid colon, rectum, prostate
- Thoracic Cavity: chest cavity; protects the lungs
- Dorsal Body Cavity: includes the space inside the skull containing the brain
- Body cavities are enclosed, fluid-filled spaces lined with serous membranes
- Secrete mucous or fluid and provide moisture to prevent friction and collapse of internal organs
- Parietal layer: lines the walls of the internal cavities
- Visceral layer: covers the surfaces of the visceral organs
- Viscera (internal organs) lie within them
- Body cavities protect the internal organs and enable them to move and change shape
- Thoracic cavity
- Pericardial chamber (heart) lined by pericardium (visceral and parietal) and pericardial fluid between; lies within mediastinum
- Pleural cavities (lungs) lined by pleural membrane called pleura (viscera and parietal)
- Abdominopelvic cavity
- Abdominal cavity
- Pelvic cavity
- Peritoneal cavity lined with peritoneum (visceral and parietal)
- Organs that lie in this cavity are referred to as retroperotineal
- Diaphragm muscle separates these two cavities
Pericardium:
Pleural Cavity:
Peritoneum:
Contributors to the Field of Anatomy and Physiology and Its Discoveries:
- Hippocrates
- Leonardo da Vinci
- Florence Nightengale
- Jane Cooke Wright
Project Ideas:
- Medical Terminology Notebook
- 3D Model (A Cell, A Tissue Type, An Organ, or An Organ System)-Labeled
- Lab Notebook (Notes/Drawings)
- Extra Credit:
- Biographies
- Book Reports
- 3D Models
- Biographies
Website References (Applies to All Pages):
- Jeanette (Sprute) Reynolds, MT-AMT, M-ASCP, MS-Biology, Certified in Emerging Diseases, Certified Instructor, BIC-USAF and MTC (Online Instructor); Personal Experience (15 years Physical Therapy Aide/Assistant & Chiropractic Assistant; 16.5 years Microbiologist/Medical Lab Scientist & Adjunct College Professor); 2 Years Full-Time College Professor; Hospital Infection Preventionist
- Shier, David. Butler, Jackie. Lewis, Ricki. Holes Human Anatomy and Physiology, 14th Edition, McGraw Hill Publications, NY, 2016.
- Shier, David. Holes Essentials of Anatomy and Physiology, McGraw Hill Publications, NY, 2009
- Marieb, Elaine N. Keller, Suzanne M. Essentials of Human Anatomy and Physiology, 12th Edition. Pearson Publications, New York, NY, 2012, 2015 and 2018.