human anatomy & physiology! This time, I'm going

to give you a shortcut to learning the bones and

bone features of the vertebrate skeleton. When you start learning the anatomy of the

human

skeleton, it's easy to feel a bit intimidated by

the list of hundreds of different bones... and all

their crazy NAMES. The good news is that it's

not quite as bad as it first appears. Most of

those names are used for more than one bone.

Like the tibia, or shinbone. There are two: the

left tibia and right tibia. So that name covers

two bones. And there are 24 ribs, so that

shortens the list quite a bit. But still, even a

shorter list of bizarre names is still a list of

bizarre names. The reason the names sound weird to us English

speakers is that they're mostly borrowed from a

whole different language. Not Martian (I know

that's what you were thinking!). As with most

anatomy terms, it's Latin. So one shortcut to

learning bone names quickly is to consciously

recognize that you're learning a NEW language.

By doing that, you will then think about the

MEANING of each bone's name instead of just

thinking of it as a silly-sounding word from a

book by Dr. Seuss. And as you start to recognize

the meanings of all the bone names, it's going to

help you recall them quickly and easily. But it

also means that to master your new language, you

have to commit to regular, short practice

sessions with flash cards or other memory drills.

You may not realize it, but you probably already

know at least a few of the names on that big long

list of skeletal features. For example, you

probably already know what is meant by a SKULL

bone. You know what a RIB is. And you know what

the PELVIS is, right? Maybe you even know a few

more than that! You may have heard the lower jaw

bone called the MANDIBLE, or have heard or even

used terms like STERNUM, HUMERUS, FEMUR, and

TIBIA. Now that long list of foreign terms has

become just a bit shorter, at least in regard to

new learning. But here's the trick. If you pay attention

to

the MEANING of each term, it will make each term

EASY to remember. And if it's easy to remember,

it won't take very long to learn even a humongous

list of terms. So let's take a look at a few. If you know

the

term STERNUM means "breastbone," then it will

make sense to you and it will be easier to

remember. The same is true for the HUMERUS,

which means "arm." The PELVIS, which resembles a

shallow bowl with a large drain in the bottom,

has a name that means "basin." FEMUR is the

Latin word for "thigh" and TIBIA is the Latin

word for "shinbone." But wait! Oh-oh, now I sound like I'm in an

infomercial. But wait! What about that

additional list of structures you need to learn...

all those PARTS of each bone? Like the

SUPRAORBITAL FORAMEN or the SUPERIOR ORBITAL

FISSURE? Don't worry! There's a shortcut for this,

too.

In fact, it's just a variation of the same

shortcut I've been talking about all along: pay

attention to the literal meaning of each name.

Specifically, I suggest that you start by

learning the "geographical" terminology used in

the names of skeletal features. Of course, you know that GEOGRAPHY is all

about

features of the earth's land... not the features of

the human skeleton. But there is something about

geography that we can apply to learning skeletal

features. Here's a satellite image of a part of

the world to which I've taken many groups of

students on field trips... the Ngorongoro region of

Tanzania in eastern Africa. There are many

geographical features you can pick out in this

image. You've seen enough geography on images to

know

how to spot a lake or two. And I'll bet you're

having no problem pointing out a few craters.

But what if I ask you to identify a SODA LAKE, or

a CALDERA, or a SAVANNAH? Those types of

features may be new to you. You know that the

blue areas are lakes, right? But unless you

know what a soda lake is, you may not know which

blue area to point to. If you know that a

caldera is a type of crater formed by the

collapse of a volcano, then it's easy to spot one

in the image. And flat, dry grasslands like

savannahs will be easy to pick out, too. So think about our "field trip" to the land

of

the human skeleton. It doesn't have lakes, or

rivers, or mountains, or caves. It has features

that are not at all familiar to most of us. Here

there's a FORAMEN, there is a FISSURE, and over

there is a CONDYLE. But really, what kind of

feature am I looking for? A crooked blue line?

No, that's a river. A bump? A hole? What

exactly? If I know that a foramen is a hole, then a

feature with the term "foramen" in its name,

like the "mental foramen," is relatively easy to

find on an image or specimen. I can narrow it

down to the holes and not even look at the bumps,

cracks, and other features of a bone's "terrain."

If I know that a fissure is an elongated hole,

or crack, then finding the superior orbital

fissure is not too hard at all. You can find the mandibular condyle, and later

recall that it's name is mandibular condyle, when

you know that a condyle is a knuckle-like,

rounded bump that fits into a joint. A meatus

is a tube-like opening, so the external acoustic

meatus should be easy to find and remember. A

ramus? That's a branching curve, like a ram's

horn, as in the curving ramus of the mandible. The terms you see listed along the right side

here are frequently used in skeletal names. And

if you know what they mean, then it makes short

work of finding all the parts you need to find.

And it makes short work of learning and

remembering these structures. My advice is to learn these general

"geographical" terms first. Before you start

trying to tackle the individual structures of the

human skeleton. If you spend just a little time

drilling with these general terms, the rest of it

will go much faster and much easier. Where can you find a list of the important

descriptive terms and their meanings? One source

is my Survival Guide for Anatomy & Physiology.

You'll find a lot more shortcuts there, too.

Another place to look is my online web guide to

human anatomy and physiology, where you can

download a free list of these terms. For more videos, shortcuts, tips, and practical

advice for learning the skeleton and other

aspects of human structure and function, visit

theAPstudent.org and sign up for the free

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