how to study anatomy?

[medical22]

---

Members do not see this ad.

what's the best way to study for an anatomy course? I know that most of it is memorization, but I'm having a hard time with it. Flash cards do help a bit, but they take up a lot of time. We have to know every single muscle, it's origin, insertion, action, etc. Any suggestions?

 

[medical22]

oh I forgot one thing, are there any good videos that can help in studying. Thanks.

 

[Allygator89]

Mnemonics anyone? Are there any good flash cards/ mnemonic devices out there that are anatomy geared?

 

[carrigallen]

www.medicalmnemonics.com
they have many of them for every subject

 

[Louweezel]

When I took anatomy I wrote everything up on a white board in color code. Names of muscles, then under each name their origin, insertion, action and innervation each in a different color. I found that this helped because a) I remembered better when I was writing it, and b) when I was I could step back and take it all in. I looked for ways that I could group muscles together according to origin, or innervation, or whatever, so I would know that muscles x, y and z all originated from the same place, etc. It made it much easier to see this when they were all written up in front of me and helped me memorize kind of in blocks. Then all I had to do was go into lab and learn to identify muscles just by their name, and I had all the rest of the info by memory. Some of the actions also are easier to guess if you know what muscle it is and where it's located.

As for mnemonics, I don't know many except the Tom, Dick and Harry one I learned for the muscles in the lower leg: Tibialis anterior/posterior (Tom), extensor/flexor Digitorum longus (Dick), extensor/flexor Hallucis longus (Harry).

Good luck! Anatomy was a hard class, but I loved it! P.S. You'll need to do laundry quite often. Especially if you have a roommate. 🙂 And I heard that formaldehyde is actually an appetite stimulant... 😛

 

[shyviolet]

For me it is easiest to remember the innervations and actions if you group muscles together in compartments (especially if you know your anterior and posterior divisions of the brachial and lumbosacral plexi)...for example the hip adducters are almost all innervated by the obturator nerve, the Hamstrings are innervated by the tibial branch of the sciatic, the Musculocutaneous nerve innervates the elbow flexors--biceps brachii, coracobrachialis and brachialis, the forarm flexors are innervated by anterior div nerves (ulnar and median) and extensors by posterior div (radial). It is also easier to try to learn the origin/insertion of a muscle and use that to figure out the action--all you gotta do is be able to predict what would happen if you shortened that muscle...makes learning things like why the right sternocleidomastoid would rotate the head to the left but would tilt it to the right. Figure out what works best for you though, no one learns the same way, I am horrible at memorization (which is how most people learn anatomy), but I'm really good at figuring out ways to think through things to get to the right answer.

Good Luck!!

 

[shyviolet]

Oh, I never used any flash cards, but I knew people who used Netter ones for musculoskeletal stuff...I've heard that is the only unit where they are really helpful, but I'm not a flashcard kinda person so I never tried them. The netter atals is definately the best though, I used that and then that photographic atals (I can't remember the author's name though...rhoden maybe?)

 

[adude]

I hated anatomy. One of the more useless classes of 1st year I thought, at least in the amount of detail we had to know.

I found that for classes that were almost all memorization as opposed to understanding concepts, repetition was the key. In other words, if you are going to study for 2 hours or whatever set amount of time, its better to go through the material 3 times quickly rather than 1 time in great detail. After a while stuff sort of sinks in.

 

[Deuce 007 MD]

I forget everything the day after studying it, so nemonics help alot. Then I would draw out a schematic of it like blood vessels, nerve routes, brachial plexus and so forth. And I would just do this over and over again until I could make the schematic from my memory w/out errors. Come test time if I wasn't sure were something was I would just draw out the schematic again and look at it for a particular question. This doesn't help to much on practicals though, but you'll still be in good shape.

 

[md_student10021]

Most of the above comments are pretty good.

For the musculoskeletal stuff, try starting with the bones...

take a bone, identify all the features, then points of insertion, names of muscles. Then innervation of the muscle. Vasculature is a little trickier, you might want to go through all the muscles of a given section (arm, forearm, thigh, leg...) then figure out the course of the vessels, as well as the paths that the nerves take.

you'll need lots and lots of repetition in order to master anatomy.

Drawing and redrawing schematics is always helpful, esp. for things like the brachial/lumbosacral plexi, arterial branch points, ansa cervicalis, etc.

While I didn't use it, BRS Anatomy was very popular and many of my classmates liked it.

 

[wolferman]

Originally posted by md_student10021
take a bone, identify all the features, then points of insertion, names of muscles. Then innervation of the muscle. Vasculature is a little trickier, you might want to go through all the muscles of a given section (arm, forearm, thigh, leg...) then figure out the course of the vessels, as well as the paths that the nerves take.

This is a great piece of advice. It worked for me when I took head and neck anatomy last semester. Basically, we started with the skull and then went outward and also inward. Many of the muscle/vessel/nerve names are related to the fossa and foramen of the bones nearby, so this it a good way to learn.

BTW, anyone try the anatomy coloring books? They look pretty neat. I may try them when I do antomy first year.

 

[Brewster]

I used the coloriong books for some of the units. I found them particularly useful for the musculoskeletal stuff.

 

[agent]

Someone suggested www.standarddeviants.com

 

[optimistique]

I really liked coloring books. I am a visual learner so color coordinating, labeling and sketching helped me. I made several copies of the coloring sheets and did them over and over again. I would also spend extra time in the lab to make sure the 3dimesional and 2dimensional mathed up.

I didnt use mnemonics very much.

Anatomy is fun. There is alot of information but once you see the patterns - as a few of the other posters have said - it can help.

 

[deleted9493]

Comparing and contrasting systems of different cadavers helps to identify detail. While Netter can help you identify the location and what the structures look like on average...there is no substitute for exploration of various bodies and their inherent differences.

 

[irene_s01]

Originally posted by shyviolet
For me it is easiest to remember the innervations and actions if you group muscles together in compartments (especially if you know your anterior and posterior divisions of the brachial and lumbosacral plexi)...for example the hip adducters are almost all innervated by the obturator nerve, the Hamstrings are innervated by the tibial branch of the sciatic, the Musculocutaneous nerve innervates the elbow flexors--biceps brachii, coracobrachialis and brachialis, the forarm flexors are innervated by anterior div nerves (ulnar and median) and extensors by posterior div (radial). It is also easier to try to learn the origin/insertion of a muscle and use that to figure out the action--all you gotta do is be able to predict what would happen if you shortened that muscle...makes learning things like why the right sternocleidomastoid would rotate the head to the left but would tilt it to the right. Figure out what works best for you though, no one learns the same way, I am horrible at memorization (which is how most people learn anatomy), but I'm really good at figuring out ways to think through things to get to the right answer.


how did u come to figure out the rite way for u? I have to learn upper lower and thorax in less than a month
Good Luck!!

 

[Asclepius]

The previous posters have offered some helpful advice for the study of anatomy. All of these methods will work, but I find that the process can be facilitated by turning the lights down low and putting on some Barry White.

 

[shyviolet]

Irene--

I figured out the right way for me by doing poorly on my first two anatomy practicals and then studying my ass off for my last one. Figuring it out is pretty much trial and error, no one can tell you how to figure out what you do best. Try out a little bit of the best advice you can get from other people and see if it works for you. If not move on to something else until you feel like you find something that works. If you can identify what helps you study well for other classes you can adapt it to anatomy. For example as I said in my first post I've always known that I don't outright memorize facts well, so trying to group things together into a logical order worked for me. Memorizing muscle tables as they are written in books didn't help me at all, I had to reorganize them in a way that made sense to me.

Probably the best way to test if a study method is working for you is to go into lab with other people and try to teach it the material to eachother--if you can do that you can pass a practical. Just make sure you know what the stuff looks like on more than one body because not everyone's cadaver looks the same. I had to learn musculoskeletal and head/neck together within six weeks, so doing the thorax in a month is not impossible. Go in with a positive attitude, prepare for labs ahead of time, and don't sell yourself short!

Good luck!