We start talking about directional terms. We introduce the idea of having an axial portion of your body, your head and trunk, and an appendicular portion of your body, your arms and legs. This is where that becomes important. When talking about your appendicular portion of your body or your limbs, we're going to have a different set of directional terms. That set of directional terms is going to be proximal and distal, and proximal and distal is going to refer to the distance to the limb attachment. In other words, how far down the arm or leg something is. Now first, we have proximal and proximal means closer to the attachment. You can think of something that is in close proximity as being closer to something. It's closer to the attachment. Now distal means farther from the attachment. Something that is distal is at a distance from the attachment. So we can look at the arms and legs over here and do a couple of examples. First off, we can pick the elbow, and the elbow will be proximal to the wrist. The elbow is closer to the attachment point than the wrist. The wrist will be distal to the elbow. The wrist is further from the attachment point than the elbow. We can pick something on the leg. Let's pick the ankle. The ankle will be proximal to the toes. The toes will be distal to the ankle. Okay. With that in mind, remember whenever you're doing the arms and legs, try to use proximal and distal. You may be tempted to say superior and inferior. So yes, technically, the knee is superior to the ankle, but a better way to say it is proximal. If you're comparing something on the body to an arm or leg, for example, if you're comparing the abdomen to the knee, then you can use that superior and inferior. The abdomen is superior to the knee, but you're usually not comparing things that are that far away. So almost always when talking about the arms and legs, you're going to be using proximal and distal. Okay. With that, try the practice problems below. We'll see you in the next video.
Directional Terms: Limbs - Online Tutor, Practice Problems & Exam Prep
Proximal and Distal
Video transcript
Directional Terms: Limbs Example 1
Video transcript
This example, again, wants us to mark up a body using those directional terms that we just learned. So, let's give it a look. It says to put an asterisk immediately. Alright. The first thing I want to do, is to remember which way this body is facing, so I'm going to give it a little smiley face. And then, I'm going to remind myself of my left and my right sides because that can confuse me sometimes. Now, immediately proximal - proximal means closer to the body, closer to the attachment point. So, I'm going to put that asterisk just above the right ankle, sort of right on the shin here. Alright. Let's look at the next one.
An "o" is distal to the right shoulder but proximal to the elbow. Alright. Take a second to look at that. Okay. So, distal to the right shoulder but proximal to the elbow. Distal means farther down the arm. Proximal means closer up the arm. So, farther away from the shoulder but closer to the elbow. That means that on the right side, I'm going to put this "o" right up here on the upper arm. Alright. Next, it says the most proximal place on the left arm. Take a second. Alright. The most proximal place is as close as you can possibly get to the attachment point of the body. That's going to be right up by the shoulder. I'm going to put a plus sign right up there.
Finally, we have an "x" immediately distal to the left knee. Take a second. Alright. Distal to the knee. Distal means farther down the limb away from the attachment point. So, I'm going to put a mark just under the knee, sort of at the top of the shin. I'm going to put an "x" right here on the left side. And there you have it. I think we did it.
The elbow is ________________ to the wrist.
Proximal
Medial
Distal
Lateral
Your study partner tells you that the wrist is superior to the elbow. How do you correct them?
The wrist is inferior to the elbow; the wrist is further from the head/closer to the ground.
The wrist is distal to the elbow; superior and inferior are generally not used for limbs structures.
The wrist is lateral to the elbow; in anatomical position arms are to the side.
The wrist is anterior to the elbow; in anatomical position the palms face forward.