Which region is the most difficult to learn in anatomy?

[ViergeEnnuyeuse]

At my school, we spend the first third of the semester learning the neck, thorax, back, arm, and hand in gross anatomy. I found this region to be very challenging. The next portion of the semester will be spent learning about the cranium. I was just wondering what regions people had the most difficulty learning in gross anatomy. Please explain why

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[Slide]

I haven't finished gross yet, but the upper class tells me that the upper limb/back is a breeze compared to the rest of the body. Judging by how things are going in anatomy right now, I'd say that statement is well-founded.

 

[MSKalltheway]

The head and neck has the most stuff crammed into the smallest space, so I think thats the most difficult all around. The pelvis/perineum also had a lot in it, but not as much as the head and neck--it was probably number two on the list, not due to difficulty, but it was annoying since the area youre trying to look into for everything is the size of a baseball...and our guy was 200lbs+!

 

[baylormed]

So far, the hand. Too many little tiny muscles with their little tiny tendons.

I think the neck also goes hand in hand, only because of the small size of the area that makes it hard to find things.

 

[cyclohexanol]

Pelvis, and head/neck

 

[ZagDoc]

Pelvis, and head/neck

Agreed. Everything else is eazy breezy.

 

[ForbiddenComma]

Extremities. No question.

I think god designed the brachial plexus like that just to torment med students.

 

[smuwillobrien]

Head and neck followed by the pelvis and perineum...

 

[pagemmapants]

Hands are freaking cool. You look at those perforated tendons and tell me the hand isn't cool.

On the other hand, the neck? Yuck.

 

[DoctaJay]

At least in college I hated the vessels in the abdomen, there were just way too much arteries and way too much fat. But I guess if I wnt to be a surgeon that I'll have to like it one day .

I also admit that I hate the hands. specifically the thenar and hypothenar muscles. I can never tell the different parts of them.

 

[osli]

We approach anatomy in a systems approach... musculoskeletal, cardiopulmonary, GI/renal/reproductive, neuro

Musculoskeletal has a lot of stuff to remember, covering everything for a single exam, but it is an "open" area and mostly spread out. Not too hard. Cardiopulmonary has a lot of stuff involved, especially in cardiac anatomy, but seems easy to learn. GI/renal/repro covers the abdominal and pelvic areas and I thought that section was a real biatch. I hated seeing some membrane connecting one thing to another and trying to recall its God-forsaken name. They all sounded the same. Neuro included head and neck as well, and while it had a lot of stuff there for sure it seemed easier to learn. Neck is a breeze, head not too bad, and neuro... well, neuroanatomy sucks, but at least there are only so many things you can see with the naked eye on a gross specimen.

 

[caribstudent07]

The pelvis. It took me forever to dig out the piriformis.

 

[Re3iRtH]

Agreed. Everything else is eazy breezy.

Damn... And I'm sitting here thinking the brachial plexus will be hard
when we get to it.. So its not even one of the harder things?

 

[Slide]

Damn... And I'm sitting here thinking the brachial plexus will be hard
when we get to it.. So its not even one of the harder things?

It's not that bad, once you learn the brachial plexus and learn how the branches innervate the arm, it's like having a cheat sheet with you at all times when you tackle the written test. Just by drawing it out and knowing the innervations of each branch, you can figure out which nerves are messed up when you have impaired function in the upper limb, and vice versa.

 

[Erina]

head and neck is killing me right now.


too many freaking nerves with too many branches (i'm talking to you, trigeminal)

 

[bbkdh]

the neck.

 

[deleted77919]

Head and neck, the neck has a lot of facial planes and there is a lot to know with the cranial nerves. The pterygopalentine fossa was my nemesis.

 

[Docster]

perineum [shudders at the memory]

 

[PeepshowJohnny]

Pelvis and Perineum depending on how demanding your dissection director is. You'll spend hours looking for a membrane/muscle that different textbook/atlases disagree if even exists.

 

[ZagDoc]

Damn... And I'm sitting here thinking the brachial plexus will be hard
when we get to it.. So its not even one of the harder things?

Brachial plexus is at least stretched and has long branches you can trace. Wait till you have to dig out the lumbar plexus and sacral plexus or *shudder* cranial plexus.

Personally I found extremities easier because its MUCH MUCH easier to get yourself oriented (medial/lateral, superficial/deep, etc, there's often only 2-3 layers of things) and its all oriented around bone. In the pelvis and neck everything is on top of everything, every little nook and cranny has a name (or 4), its just much more difficult to get your bearings. You can't order things out into neat layers.

 

[peace zealot]

well i found head and neck the most difficult region.......there is a lot of material is a very small space and the most difficult part of this region is dissection and identifying the structures.......nerves,vessels and muscles with a lot of spaces makes you mad.......are there any students who started there anatomy with that mind damaging region with no anatomy background..........???

 

[Terpskins99]

I could never become an orthopod. I absolutely hated studying all those little muscles with similar sounding names.

Flexor digiti minimi profundus longus brevis penis.

I loved head and neck though. Everything north of your clavicle has a nice unique name.

 

[osli]

In the pelvis and neck everything is on top of everything, every little nook and cranny has a name (or 4), its just much more difficult to get your bearings. You can't order things out into neat layers.

Yeah, and then the damned professors take the cadavers you have been studying religiously and set up the exam, and their thinking seems to go something like this...

"Hmm... way too easy... this quadratus lumborum will probably help them get oriented. Cut it out. Wait, the ribs above still make it too easy to identify craniosacral position... let's just cut the pelvis out and work with just that section. OK, better, now time to "help" the students. Hmm... why not split the pelvis saggitally so that they can look inside easier. OK... we're going to tag a vessel here, right? Well, that sacral plexus is in the way... let's remove it so the students can see the important structures easier. And these muscles in the perineal region are preventing us from following the vessel's course completely - cut those out too. Hey - Rick - take out that chunk of bladder up there to clean up this area. Much better. Now, we've got several good vessels here so let's tag one or two..."

So you get to that station on the practical and you're looking at a mutilated chunk of one side of a pelvis (male or female, who the hell knows) small enough to sit on a plate, with no nerves, and no muscles. There is some big vessel coming in from the top with a christmas tree of branches hanging out in free space. Two of them are tagged. You've never seen anything remotely like this in dissection lab. Fun... let the guessing begin!

 

[Doctor Bagel]

It's not that bad, once you learn the brachial plexus and learn how the branches innervate the arm, it's like having a cheat sheet with you at all times when you tackle the written test. Just by drawing it out and knowing the innervations of each branch, you can figure out which nerves are messed up when you have impaired function in the upper limb, and vice versa.

Yeah, I'd rank the brachial plexus as pretty low on the list of hard things for anatomy. The advice above is spot on for learning it -- once you draw it a few times, you'll know it like the back of your hand.

I'd say the pelvis/perineum is the worst.

 

[Instatewaiter]

Perineum/pelvis was by far the worst for me. It is so hard to get yourself oriented. To this day it is still a cluster-F in my mind

It thought Abdomen/thorax was the easiest because you had some rudimentary knowledge of how stuff was set up before the course.

In retrospect, Arm and back/neck was really easy but you have to get used to thinking in 3D and memorizing random latin words.

 

[anon-y-mouse]

Perineum/pelvis was by far the worst for me. It is so hard to get yourself oriented. To this day it is still a cluster-F in my mind

Yeah, holy crap. Where is the pelvis / perineum on this poll? Easily the most difficult... all those nerves/arteries diving down! Head+neck is very manageable if you're systematic and learn everything by its branches, foramen by foramen, cranial nerve by cranial nerve...

 

[madeyedhl]

hate neuroand head region. TT njust too much info. enjoed abd the most so far

 

[Hayden2102]

I sat down and learned the brachial plexus (and all 17 nerves that originate from it) in an hour and a half. Anatomy isn't that hard, it's just about concentration and repetition.

That said, I haven't done the head yet...

 

[arsenewenger]

I sat down and learned the brachial plexus (and all 17 nerves that originate from it) in an hour and a half. Anatomy isn't that hard, it's just about concentration and repetition.

That said, I haven't done the head yet...

Wow! That is incredible.I think you deserve a nobel prize for discovering, from Netter/Rohen , the seventeen nerves that originate from the Brachial plexus. The only problem is that... I seriously doubt your ability to trace it out on the body .

 

[cbass1350]

Perineum was a pain in the ass.

 

[45408]

Head and neck followed by the pelvis and perineum...

.

 

[logos]

Pelvis, no question

 

[ZagDoc]

Wow! That is incredible.I think you deserve a nobel prize for discovering, from Netter/Rohen , the seventeen nerves that originate from the Brachial plexus. The only problem is that... I seriously doubt your ability to trace it out on the body .

Contribution to phrenic nerve runs down the anterior mediastinum.
Long Thoracic Nerve of Bell runs laterally down thoracic wall to serratus anterior.
Dorsal Scapular Nerve runs superiorally over to innervate inferior portion of traps and the rhomboids.
Neve to Subclavius makes a beeline for... subclavius
Suprascapular Nerve runs into through the suprascapular notch under the transverse ligament then through the spinaglenoid notch
Lateral Pectoral Nerve runs to pec major, medial to pec minor
Medial Pectoral Nerve pieces pec minor on its way up to pec major
Upper/Lower Subscapular nerves run to... subscapularis, with lower innervating teres major along the way
Thoracordosal nerve makes a beeline down the thoracic wall for lat dorsi
Medial Cutaneous Nerve of the Brachium comes superficially along the, you guessed it, medial side of the brachium
Medial Cutaneous Nerve of the Antebrachium... well... you guess it
Musculocutaneous pieces coracobrachialis, innervates the the flexor brachium, then continues as the lateral cutaneous branch of the antebrachium superior to brachioradialis.
Median nerve runs medially down your whole arm, giving off the anterior interosseus
Ulnar Nerve runs down the side of the... ulna!, along the medial epicondyle of the humerus.
Radial nerve runs along... the radial groove! splitting into superficial and deep branches, with the deep branch becoming the posterior interosseus n. and the superficial proceeding under brachioradialis before passing over the anatomical snuffbox
Axillary nerve dives deep through the quandrangular space with the posterior circumflex humeral a. to power deltoid and teres minor.

And no, I'm not studying this right now. We covered this a good 4 weeks ago.

Tracing the brachial plexus is EASY because each nerve IS so long and because each nerve has a specific destination in mind. The names often reflect what they do. As long as you can tie the names to structures you're GOLDEN. Granted, you can't learn all that in just a half hour, but easily in just one afternoon as long as you have your bearings.

 

[Hayden2102]

Wow! That is incredible.I think you deserve a nobel prize for discovering, from Netter/Rohen , the seventeen nerves that originate from the Brachial plexus. The only problem is that... I seriously doubt your ability to trace it out on the body .

Gee, rude much? Get me in a cadaver lab and I'll show you.

 

[elatedMD]

i say, foot.. yea, seriously. least interesting compared to everything else above the knee

 

[MadameLULU]

Pelvis, and head/neck

I agree. This poll should have combined head/neck and included pelvis.

 

[ChickFingaz]

We're just getting to head and neck and I have to say it seems to require little extra b/c of the discontinuous way you must learn it.

Head and Neck should be added to the poll as one option.

 

[Pembleton]

Head and Neck

 

[drsadness88]

Well , we're learning the upper limb to be more specific pectoral region. And to be honest I'm finding it pretty challanging. With all the nerves, muscles and bones. But my prof. said that it's a matter of time.And at the end I'll be able to master all the material.But I should be patient and work hard in the morgue. She also said that I did an excellent work in dissecting and I have a promising future in surgey. YAy that pep talk gave me the kick in the butt that I needed.

 

[NoktorNoL]

well i found head and neck the most difficult region.......there is a lot of material is a very small space and the most difficult part of this region is dissection and identifying the structures.......nerves,vessels and muscles with a lot of spaces makes you mad.......are there any students who started there anatomy with that mind damaging region with no anatomy background..........???

Yeah head and neck was kinda crazy...we havent done perineum yet though..

 

[snumie]

Pelvis and Limbs

 

[MikeyLu2010]

dono why pelvis isnt in the poll..head and neck is the most dense area...but i thought pelvis was by far harder.

 

[Katya00]

We just started with the pelvis today, so I can't really comment on how difficult it is yet. We already did the arms, hands, back, neck, thorax and abdominal cavities. The neck was pretty intense, but they gave it to us with the thorax and abdomen, so that made things a little easier. By the end of the four week block, I knew the neck well since we dissected it first. Of everything, the thorax and abdomen were the easiest, and the most fun (if I can go that far, haha). Everything seems to make sense, and the structures are very large. I guess the only difficult part was the innervation and the vascularization, but once you understand the Embryo behind it, it makes sense too. The lumbar plexus was WAY easier than the brachial plexus. Our next block is the cranium (all by it's lonesome) so I think it will be a little simpler without the neck thrown in. All in all, I'll be really glad when anatomy is over.

 

[JCYL]

head & neck!!!! perineum!!!!