# Anatomy memorization



## gonefishing (Sep 20, 2010)

I need an easy way if at all possible of memorizing anatomy.  I'm getting it down I just get frustrated because I get testing jitters.  Anybody out there with a little advice? I am a hands on learner so the book thing isn't my really my drift.  Thanks in advance!.


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## CAO (Sep 20, 2010)

What part do you seem to be having trouble with?


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## medicRob (Sep 20, 2010)

gonefishing said:


> I need an easy way if at all possible of memorizing anatomy.  I'm getting it down I just get frustrated because I get testing jitters.  Anybody out there with a little advice? I am a hands on learner so the book thing isn't my really my drift.  Thanks in advance!.



Flash cards. In Nursing school during anatomy & physiology I and II, I would go into the lab and make   pictures of each one of the models at different angles.   I would get 3 copies of the pics from the local photo center. 

I would number the structures on the pic and then write them from my book on the back of the photo with the corresponding number. I would then study those photos and slowly label the other 2 sets one at a time trying not to look at the labeled set. 

I also used my lab manual, my full color atlas, and my anatomy & physiology coloring book a lot. 

I also used ADAM ONLINE (Subscription service). 

Also, there is no substitute for quality time in the A & P Lab!

I am now a teaching assistant in nursing level Anatomy & Physiology I and II (Biol 2010 and 2020) and I tell students the same things I am telling you about how to study. Also, don't try to just memorize and repeat back like a parrot. Try to understand why a particular bone is shaped the way it is, articulates in a certain position, etc. 

Tie in your physiology with it as well, such as Endochondral ossification, etc. Take a look at the periosteum and the epiphyseal plate and tie in what you learned in physiology with it.

Contact me via PM and I will send you my email address and a way to contact me outside of this site so I can send you some digital textbooks and resources that the admins here might not appreciate me sharing via their board.


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## gonefishing (Sep 20, 2010)

medicRob said:


> Flash cards. In Nursing school during anatomy & physiology I and II, I would go into the lab and make   pictures of each one of the models at different angles.   I would get 3 copies of the pics from the local photo center.
> 
> I would number the structures on the pic and then write them from my book on the back of the photo with the corresponding number. I would then study those photos and slowly label the other 2 sets one at a time trying not to look at the labeled set.
> 
> ...



LOL sounds good! will do.  My wife is a kaiser nurse and I don't feel like bothering her when she gets home on ways to study anatomy.lol


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## JPINFV (Sep 20, 2010)

gonefishing said:


> LOL sounds good! will do.  My wife is a kaiser nurse and I don't feel like bothering her when she gets home on ways to study anatomy.lol



Remember to get some good surface anatomy studying in too!


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## LucidResq (Sep 21, 2010)

medicRob said:


> Also, there is no substitute for quality time in the A & P Lab!



Nothing helped me quite like gettin' my hands dirty in the cadaver.


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## Phlipper (Sep 21, 2010)

> Try to understand why a particular bone is shaped the way it is, articulates in a certain position, etc.



That's what I have to do.

I'm in the Para A&P class now and it is a compressed class.  It is a killer.  And I have test anxiety to the extent I sometimes actually throw up, and at 47 that's pretty embarrassing.

The only way I can kick azz on A&P is to memorize the subject matter in relation to what it does.  For me, regurgitation from reading or flash cards doesn't do it.  The only way to make it stick is to put it in context and truly understand why ad how it does what it does.


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## medicRob (Sep 21, 2010)

Phlipper said:


> That's what I have to do.
> 
> I'm in the Para A&P class now and it is a compressed class.  It is a killer.  And I have test anxiety to the extent I sometimes actually throw up, and at 47 that's pretty embarrassing.
> 
> The only way I can kick azz on A&P is to memorize the subject matter in relation to what it does.  For me, regurgitation from reading or flash cards doesn't do it.  The only way to make it stick is to put it in context and truly understand why ad how it does what it does.



If your professors are anything like my A & P professor was they will disarticulate the bone from the skeleton, lay it on the table  in a strange position and ask you to identify it.


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## aewin90 (Sep 21, 2010)

I've always had difficulty with mnemonics and such.  In CNA class I used brutal memorization until I could draw a human body and then label at least 95% of what I was supposed to know.  Drew it a few hundred times and then it was burned into my brain.  h34r:


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## Phlipper (Sep 21, 2010)

medicRob said:


> If your professors are anything like my A & P professor was they will disarticulate the bone from the skeleton, lay it on the table  in a strange position and ask you to identify it.



Our A&P is all lecture with diagrams drawn from the teacher's memory on a white board.  No visuals, mechanical aids, slides, etc.  And the tests are all short answer and essay, so you _really _have to know the systems and the physiology.  

Mine is being taught by a long-time CC Paramedic/MD who is an excellent teacher and who really bends over backwards to ensure you get the material.  But the tests are a killer.  I have to study until I can literally draw each system, label each part, explain what each does and how it does it (down to the cellular level), and list and explain any pathologies one might see as an EMT-P.  The class is one condensed/short semester and it is like drinking from a fire hose. :wacko:  

Can't wait for the core medic curriculum to start, though.  I'm really digging this stuff.  Wish I'd done it 20 years ago instead of Engineering and IT.


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## JPINFV (Sep 21, 2010)

medicRob said:


> If your professors are anything like my A & P professor was they will disarticulate the bone from the skeleton, lay it on the table  in a strange position and ask you to identify it.



...which is always fun with the small bones, like the incus.


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## abckidsmom (Sep 21, 2010)

Phlipper said:


> Our A&P is all lecture with diagrams drawn from the teacher's memory on a white board.  No visuals, mechanical aids, slides, etc.  And the tests are all short answer and essay, so you _really _have to know the systems and the physiology.
> 
> Mine is being taught by a long-time CC Paramedic/MD who is an excellent teacher and who really bends over backwards to ensure you get the material.  But the tests are a killer.  I have to study until I can literally draw each system, label each part, explain what each does and how it does it (down to the cellular level), and list and explain any pathologies one might see as an EMT-P.  The class is one condensed/short semester and it is like drinking from a fire hose. :wacko:
> 
> Can't wait for the core medic curriculum to start, though.  I'm really digging this stuff.  Wish I'd done it 20 years ago instead of Engineering and IT.




Sounds like a fantastic class!  Good luck with that!


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## medicRob (Sep 21, 2010)

JPINFV said:


> ...which is always fun with the small bones, like the incus.



the incus on one side of the room, the maleus on the other and the stapesnon the back table


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## MusicMedic (Sep 22, 2010)

medicRob said:


> If your professors are anything like my A & P professor was they will disarticulate the bone from the skeleton, lay it on the table  in a strange position and ask you to identify it.



thats exactly what my professor does for our lab test, he lays the Bone upside or only shows one part of the bone, and we have to identify it, and we have to say if its left or right! 
There was one section where he would put a bone in a box, and we had to feel the bone and tell him what bone it was and if it was left or right

luckly at our library we could rent a box of bones for a few hours, and i just went over it over and over.


the fun part is telling the Carpals apart from each other
while its seperated from the rest of the bones. just the single bone lying on the table 


Pisiform, Trapezium, Navicular, Trapezoid, Lunate,  Hamate.. Etc etc 

i love anatomy


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## Akulahawk (Sep 22, 2010)

medicRob said:


> If your professors are anything like my A & P professor was they will disarticulate the bone from the skeleton, lay it on the table  in a strange position and ask you to identify it.





JPINFV said:


> ...which is always fun with the small bones, like the incus.





medicRob said:


> the incus on one side of the room, the maleus on the other and the stapes on the back table


While it was certainly instructive, I _hated_ it when my A&P Professors did that... But I did learn. :glare:


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## medicRob (Sep 22, 2010)

I hope every one enjoys the books I sent.


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## jjesusfreak01 (Sep 22, 2010)

JPINFV said:


> ...which is always fun with the small bones, like the incus.



Nah, those are too easy. The malleus looks like a club (mallet), the stapes looks like a stirrup, and the incus (anvil) looks like an anvil. Now putting out the bones of the wrist separately, that would be more challenging.


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## gonefishing (Sep 26, 2010)

medicRob said:


> I hope every one enjoys the books I sent.



Hey Rob, didn't get anything yet? server block it? lol


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## MusicMedic (Sep 26, 2010)

jjesusfreak01 said:


> Nah, those are too easy. The malleus looks like a club (mallet), the stapes looks like a stirrup, and the incus (anvil) looks like an anvil. Now putting out the bones of the wrist separately, that would be more challenging.



and thats what my teacher did for one of our question for the lab test, he put one of the carpals out there its self and we had to identify it


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## Veneficus (Sep 26, 2010)

Well, nobody said it yet, so I guess I will.

Memorization of anatomy is utter folly. There are rules to anatomy. (neatly described in book like clinically oriented anatomy if you actually read the text part and not just the colored boxes)

Once you learn all the rules. (an simple example is whenever there is a longus there must be a corresponding brevis)

Once yu can identify all the components of an area by functional rules, the names come very easy.


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## clibb (Sep 26, 2010)

I'll be taking Anatomy in a medical school I'll be attending in Europe. I talked to my anatomy teacher there and he told me to get Atlas of Human Anatomy 5th Edition by Frank H. Netter M.D.  Anyone who has the chance, get this book. It's freaking awesome!


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## Veneficus (Sep 26, 2010)

clibb said:


> I'll be taking Anatomy in a medical school I'll be attending in Europe. I talked to my anatomy teacher there and he told me to get Atlas of Human Anatomy 5th Edition by Frank H. Netter M.D.  Anyone who has the chance, get this book. It's freaking awesome!



It is not bad. 

If you want a really great atlas though, Rohen is the best I have seen. 

Sabota is really good too, but not at all worth the price.

You may find "anatomy recall" very helpful too. 

Most important is staying in the lab, as often and as much as you are permitted. Especially if you are setting your sights on "the golden scapula." (european wide competition in anatomy for you guys not from here)


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## spike91 (Sep 26, 2010)

Nothing like a little practical anatomy studying with a significant other


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## MrBrown (Sep 26, 2010)

Mrs Brown is such a good sport when it comes to helping


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## clibb (Sep 27, 2010)

Veneficus said:


> It is not bad.
> 
> If you want a really great atlas though, Rohen is the best I have seen.
> 
> ...



Yeah, I'm taking my anatomy VERY serious for my first two years over seas. While some students take the anatomy over 4-6 years, I'm doing it in 2. I'm going with the dean to all sorts of surgeries (He's a retired neurosurgeon) and trying to get as good as I can at anatomy. Doing a ton of work with Cadavers. 
I'll check those books out Veneficus! Thank you!


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## MusicMedic (Sep 29, 2010)

medicRob said:


> I hope every one enjoys the books I sent.



MedicRob can you PM me those books as well?


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## EMS/LEO505 (Sep 29, 2010)

I prefer the Billy Madison way of studying haha except not with the bus driver...


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## medicRob (Sep 29, 2010)

MusicMedic said:


> MedicRob can you PM me those books as well?



Yes, I will send you the books. However, it is against forum rules for me to just share copyrighted textbooks, etc over the PM system, so send me a PM with your email address, and we will handle it off the site. FFemt8978 has a habit of giving me "warning points" at the first opportunity and keeping them on my account when the instances were clearly honest mistakes that were acknowledged as honest mistakes by the admin who gave the infraction, but no.. let's just leave the points there any ways), sorry I am in the mood to rant about things today, then again what else would you expect from a site that expects people to not keep asking the same questions over and over in threads, while they tell you that you are not allowed to "Bump" threads. I do enjoy the people here, however.. This is why I come around. 

Anyways, Send me your email address and we will handle it off the site.

P.S. ffemt8978,

Go ahead and give me my infraction points for this post.. Well worth it, and it feels good.


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## aewin90 (Sep 29, 2010)

medicRob said:


> Yes, I will send you the books. However, it is against forum rules for me to just share copyrighted textbooks, etc over the PM system, so send me a PM with your email address, and we will handle it off the site. FFemt8978 has a habit of giving me "warning points" at the first opportunity and keeping them on my account when the instances were clearly honest mistakes that were acknowledged as honest mistakes by the admin who gave the infraction, but no.. let's just leave the points there any ways), sorry I am in the mood to rant about things today, then again what else would you expect from a site that expects people to not keep asking the same questions over and over in threads, while they tell you that you are not allowed to "Bump" threads. I do enjoy the people here, however.. This is why I come around.
> 
> Anyways, Send me your email address and we will handle it off the site.
> 
> ...



A challenge.


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## medicRob (Sep 29, 2010)

aewin90 said:


> A challenge.



Stop trying to be an instigator. There is no "challenge" or anything of the like in that post. I was simply stating facts about my infractions to give the other users an idea of the implications of sharing copyrighted material over the private messaging systems. I am not afraid to post that information publicly. If the admins have any problems with the infractions being publicly known, then maybe they shouldn't have given them in the first place. If you are going to do something, make sure you do not have any problems standing by that action if brought into the light (not implying that it was hid or anything).  


aewin90:
 You are the type of person who likes to incite and to instigate to see what unfolds. Stop being a poster boy for ignorance. I certainly hope you are not calling yourself an EMT. You have a long way to go, son. Grow up. 

This is a forum of adults, not children. We have no need of playing the "challenge" game. If that's how you get your jollies, go somewhere else.


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## EMSSuccess (Sep 29, 2010)

Totally agree with MedicRob. Flashcards, flashcards and more flashcards. I used them for drugs more than anatomy. As a matter of fact, in paramedic school, it took my drug cards apart into sections and made a matching game!


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## aewin90 (Sep 29, 2010)

medicRob said:


> Stop trying to be an instigator. There is no "challenge" or anything of the like in that post. I was simply stating facts about my infractions to give the other users an idea of the implications of sharing copyrighted material over the private messaging systems. I am not afraid to post that information publicly. If the admins have any problems with the infractions being publicly known, then maybe they shouldn't have given them in the first place. If you are going to do something, make sure you do not have any problems standing by that action if brought into the light (not implying that it was hid or anything).
> 
> 
> aewin90:
> ...


Well, that's what I get for trying to lighten the mood.  I'll assume you're having a bad day and move on.


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## medicRob (Sep 29, 2010)

aewin90 said:


> Well, that's what I get for trying to lighten the mood.  I'll assume you're having a bad day and move on.



You assumed wrong. I would call out idiocracy like that any day of the week, regardless of mood.


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## aewin90 (Sep 29, 2010)

medicRob said:


> You assumed wrong. I would call out idiocracy like that any day of the week, regardless of mood.



Then you may call out my idiocy by PM.  I apologize for upsetting you as it was certainly not my intention, but this thread is no place for such childish antics.



Anyway--

Awesome website for anatomy review here:

http://www.innerbody.com/htm/body.html


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## medicRob (Sep 29, 2010)

aewin90 said:


> Then you may call out my idiocy by PM.  I apologize for upsetting you as it was certainly not my intention, but this thread is no place for such childish antics.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



If you were being an idiot in PM, I would've. You chose to be an idiot in public, so I chose to call you out in public. I will do it again if you ever allow me the window. Welcome to the world of professional healthcare, kid. You say stupid things, and you are going to get called on them. 

You are correct that this thread is no place for such childish antics, which leads me to ask why you went ahead with your post? When (Not If, and you will) say something stupid in the future, I will make it a point to send you a PM while I make the public retort as well. 

Now back to the original topic:

While innerbody.com is ok, it doesn't really cover anywhere near the amount of content that an EMT, Paramedic, or a nurse needs. At the University where I teach nursing level Anatomy & Physiology I and II, we have subscriptions to ADAM online as well as installs on all the bio dept computers. As far as texts go, my A & P course used a lot of Tortora's textbooks, along with MARIEB's Human Anatomy & Physiology with disease guide and Porth's Essentials of Pathophysiology.

Seeing as you are a CNA, you might have never been exposed to nursing level anatomy. As such, here is the Amazon preview of the table of contents for the textbook we are using in the class I am teaching, "Principles of Anatomy & Physiology" from Tortora.

The TOC:
http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Anatomy-Physiology-Tortora/dp/0470084715#reader_0470084715

Creating flash cards or using some other study method and above all else, spending time in the lab outside of class is what determines how well you will do in these two courses. If it is software you are looking for, I recommend "Interactive Physiology" and an ADAM online subscription.


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## aewin90 (Sep 29, 2010)

medicRob said:


> If you were being an idiot in PM, I would've. You chose to be an idiot in public, so I chose to call you out in public. I will do it again if you ever allow me the window. Welcome to the world of professional healthcare, kid. You say stupid things, and you are going to get called on them.


I attempted to lighten the mood with a two-word sentence.  You take the internet far too seriously (big ego?).



medicRob said:


> You are correct that this thread is no place for such childish antics, which leads me to ask why you went ahead with your post? When (Not If, and you will) say something stupid in the future, I will make it a point to send you a PM while I make the public retort as well.


We obviously do not share a common reality.  Derailing a BLS anatomy thread with a rant about an EMTLife mod is the childish occurrence here.

In order to prevent further thread hijacking someone needs to be the adult and end the discussion.  I am putting you on my ignore list in hopes that the knowledge that I can no longer read what you type will stop adding fuel to your fire.  If you feel that it is necessary to continue making a fool of yourself then you may proceed.


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