Starting PT School in June...

[Sand@heart]

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I am happy to say that I will be starting PT school this June. I have heard nightmare stories about Anatomy on this site though so I am wanting to start doing a little bit of studying for it. What are some good books that will help to prepare me for PT Anatomy?

 

[beestrng]

Take it easy until school starts.

It is hard but just study you will do good 🙂

 

[Kuhdaytee]

Here’s a thread of the same question that was asked recently.

The general consensus seems to be that it’s hard to get prepared for PT school before it starts, mostly because you don’t know what you’ll be learning first and you have no idea what the professors want you to know.

However, if you REALLY want to start learning, you could buy an anatomy book and look over basic parts of each bone and where the muscles are in relationship to each other. I knew that I wanted to buy a Netter’s book before I started school because the photos are beautiful, and I know that it would be helfpul at any school. You can get it here or another website.

Don’t try to study specific muscle attachments. Each professor will teach you differently, so it’s better to not learn them incorrectly and have to relearn different information later. I would wait until it’s closer to school to buy too many books. You don’t know what you’ll actually need, so wait to ask 2nd year students what books they actually needed to use for each class, and see if you can buy directly from 2nd years to save some money.

 

[Phyline]

Why are we required to take A&P with lab, if a PT program is going to have its own anatomy anyway? I know that I basically glossed over the bone/muscle/arteries/nerves/origins/insertions (all memorization) sections, but now I'm quietly freaking out because if we're required to take it, are we required to know all this already?

 

[PTMattI]

but now I'm quietly freaking out because if we're required to take it, are we required to know all this already?

nope, everything will be covered in your PT anatomy class. and i mean EVERYTHING haha. although a general basic understanding going in will definitely help. dont freak out, enjoy your time off before pt school. You will be fine.

 

[Sand@heart]

Why are we required to take A&P with lab, if a PT program is going to have its own anatomy anyway? I know that I basically glossed over the bone/muscle/arteries/nerves/origins/insertions (all memorization) sections, but now I'm quietly freaking out because if we're required to take it, are we required to know all this already?

I was thinking the same thing! I was like gosh that was a couple years ago I can't remember all the details!

Thank you everyone!

 

[Kuhdaytee]

Some classmates haven't had A&P for 4-5 years, and they did just fine! There's no need to pre-learn anything.

I would just try to have as fun as possible, get into an exercise routine, and learn how to cook before classes start.

 

[DPT_2205]

I would buy Netter's Atlas regardless of what your school tells you. My school told us to get something else and I always regretted it. I wouldn't do any studying prior to PT school but if you do just start learning muscles action, origin, insertion, and innervation.

 

[Phyline]

Do we learn blood supply for each muscle as well?

 

[starrsgirl]

The anatomy at PT school was about 500 times more intense than when I took it in undergrad. No, you don't have to remember specifics from your first class....but it's really helpful to at least have "heard" of some of the concepts before. At least you have a (very small) place from which to start. We had to know blood supplies and nerves to muscles...but it would have been worthless to just memorize them. For our class, it was comprehensive blood supply. Knowing which artery or vessel was running where and through which layer of muscle/tissue. So unlike undergrad, it wasn't as easy as just memorizing origin/insertion/innervation/blood for each muscle. Personally, it wouldn't have made any difference to me to pre study before school since I never would have covered the material like we were required to in class. (I was years out of anatomy too). Don't sweat it. Just be ready to go on day 1.

 

[TheIron]

Do we learn blood supply for each muscle as well?

We did but there is much more emphasis on innervation. I agree with everyone above to just chill before school starts. Knowing what the serratus anterior is before school won't give you too much of a leg up when you have to know action, innervation, blood flow, attachments, and how to palpate it correctly. Honestly people don't fail anatomy because the material is hard, it's because they don't study efficiently and get behind. When you're in school just study a little bit every day even if it's only for 15 mins. Figure out how you study best and stick to it! If you do poorly on an exam just reflect on your study habits and adjust accordingly. It is a lot of information but most people get through it just fine.

You will get your anatomy down pretty solid as you proceed through your program because it's the foundation of (almost) everything you learn as a PT. For now take a vacation, visit family/friends, and have fun! There will be plenty of time to learn your brachial plexus over the next 3 years 🙂

 

[Kuhdaytee]

I agree with not learning specifics yet, like I said earlier.

Someone mentioned that in undergrad you tend to memorize everything. In PT school we learned everything by region, so we learned all the nerves, blood supply, muscles, other soft tissues, etc in the back, then the arm, then the lower extremity, then the trunk. Everything made sense, and there wasn't as much memorization. If you study before PT school, it would be hard to study because anatomy is taught differently and more in depth than in undergrad.

 

[Phyline]

we learned everything by region

Does this depend on the program? I noticed some will have Gross Anatomy for one semester, some will have Upper/Lower split into two semesters, and some will have regional anatomy (I think I prefer that).

wasn't as much memorization

Whaaaaaat about ALL THE BONE LANDMARKS? 😀 I was shown a "bone room" during one of the campus tours at CU, and there was this half of a skull with like 50-100 pinned landmarks on that half of a skull alone.

 

[TheIron]

Does this depend on the program? I noticed some will have Gross Anatomy for one semester, some will have Upper/Lower split into two semesters, and some will have regional anatomy (I think I prefer that).


Whaaaaaat about ALL THE BONE LANDMARKS? 😀 I was shown a "bone room" during one of the campus tours at CU, and there was this half of a skull with like 50-100 pinned landmarks on that half of a skull alone.

Don't worry, there will be a good amount of memorization at first. However in PT school you will learn WHY a structure is shaped the way it is and knowing anatomy becomes much easier. Professors will point to a structure and say "what is this?" and often follow up with "what is its function?" You often forget things you memorize... but things you understand are stored long term.

 

[PTX2]

Professors will point to a structure and say "what is this?" and often follow up with "what is its function?" You often forget things you memorize... but things you understand are stored long term.

The structure-function relationship was emphasized from day 1 of my undergrad human anatomy (at a cc). My professor always discouraged rote memorization although at times it was necessary.

To this day that was the most intense course I've taken which includes grad courses. Considering that the PT program anatomy will be considerably harder is very intimidating.

 

[Kuhdaytee]

Does this depend on the program? I noticed some will have Gross Anatomy for one semester, some will have Upper/Lower split into two semesters, and some will have regional anatomy (I think I prefer that).

Whaaaaaat about ALL THE BONE LANDMARKS? 😀 I was shown a "bone room" during one of the campus tours at CU, and there was this half of a skull with like 50-100 pinned landmarks on that half of a skull alone.

I have no idea how anatomy is taught at other programs. Upper/Lower also sounds like regional anatomy to me though.

Haha well obviously there is some memorization, like what spinal levels the back muscles attach to. Like the other people said, most landmarks have a purpose or function, so you're able to understand the anatomy instead of just purely memorizing everything like I did in undergrad. It was a lot of information but I was able to retain information better that way.

The structure-function relationship was emphasized from day 1 of my undergrad human anatomy (at a cc). My professor always discouraged rote memorization although at times it was necessary.

To this day that was the most intense course I've taken which includes grad courses. Considering that the PT program anatomy will be considerably harder is very intimidating.

I actually thought PT anatomy was easier in a way, just because I had a much better professor for PT school. My undergrad professor taught only from powerpoints and I didn't take lab at the same time, so I spent so much time memorizing everything.

PT school anatomy isn't necessarily hard, you just have to have good time management so you can learn quickly and retain the information. There's more information that you have to learn faster, but it's so interesting that it doesn't seem so bad when you have to study it a lot.

 

[Phyline]

Upper/Lower also sounds like regional anatomy to me though.

Oh absolutely, but some programs seem to break it down even further - Head/Neck/Thorax, Upper Extremity, Hip and Pelvis, Lower Extremity.

 

[aroszko]

Oh absolutely, but some programs seem to break it down even further - Head/Neck/Thorax, Upper Extremity, Hip and Pelvis, Lower Extremity.

You will get what you need regardless of what school and what break down they use.

 

[DesertPT]

if we're required to take it, are we required to know all this already?

Nope, PT school anatomy will literally recover every single thing you learned in undergrad anatomy x10, other than maybe some of the visceral stuff which tends to get kind of skimmed. But the amount of musculoskeletal anatomy you learned in undergrad A&P I & II will be like 20% max of what you learn in PT school. And then neuroanatomy will hit and that will be unlike anything you've ever heard in your life. 🙂 Undergrad A&P is really more for the physiology component, as you will jump right into pathophysiology early in the curriculum and need some background on how the body systems normally should work.

 

[DesertPT]

I am wanting to start doing a little bit of studying for it.

Literally will not make PT school one bit easier. Have a good time before school starts, go on a sweet vacation and revel in the reality that you will not be completing the PT school admissions process every again. 🙂

Knowing which artery or vessel was running where and through which layer of muscle/tissue. So unlike undergrad, it wasn't as easy as just memorizing origin/insertion/innervation/blood for each muscle.

This is a good point. For me at least, in undergrad the questions were just "what muscle is this?" or "what is it's innervation?", whereas in PT school though there were still questions like that, a lot of them were relational, such as a pin in a ligament or something with the question "what structure lies immediately deep to this?", or a nerve flopped over the cadaver the wrong direction with a question like "what two muscles would normally lie immediately lateral and superficial to this?". These kind of questions require you to know your anatomy a lot more than just memorization of facts, and this kind of understanding is not accomplished by "pre-studying" before school. You have to be in the cadaver lab learning your way around the body left right and center.