Exercise Science / Sports Medicine
S2O1abc
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Anatomical Position – Standing upright,
feet together or slightly apart, arms
hanging but not touching the sides, with
palms forward and thumbs pointing out.
Why?
The anatomical position is important
because it’s the reference for all
directional and movement terms.
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Sagittal Plane(s): Divide the body into right
and left segments.
Cardinal Plane: Divides the body into equal
and portions.
Midsagittal Plane: Cardinal Sagittal Plane
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Coronal / Frontal Plane(s)- Divide the body
into front and back segments.
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Transverse / horizontal Plane(s)- Divides the
Body into top and bottom segments.
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Center of Mass / Center of Gravity – The point
at which all three cardinal planes intersect.
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Inferior-Refers to a structure being closer to
the feet or lower than another structure in the
body
Superior-Refers to a structure being closer to
the head or higher than another structure in
the body
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Anterior-Refers to a structure being more in
front than another structure in the body
Posterior-Refers to a structure being more in
back than another structure in the body
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Medial-Refers to a structure being closer to
the midline or median plane of the body than
another structure of the body
Lateral-Refers to a structure being farther
away from the midline than another structure
of the body
Distal-(Reference to the extremities only)
 Refers to a structure being further away from
the root or attachment of the limb than
another structure in the limb
Proximal-(Reference to the extremities only)
 Refers to a structure being closer to the root
of the limb than another structure in
that limb
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Superficial-Refers to a structure being closer
to the surface of the body than another
structure
Deep-Refers to a structure being closer to the
core of the body than another structure
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Ventral-Towards the front or belly
Dorsal- Towards the back
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Prone-Lying face down
Supine-Lying face up
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Unilateral- pertaining to one side of the body
Bilateral- pertaining to both sides of the
body.
Ipsilateral- movement of both upper and
lower extremities on the same side.
Contralateral-movement of opposite upper
and lower body extremities.