Anatomy and Physiology - Q for medical people?

[C~Q]

This is really a question for anyone that has any ideas to retain large amounts of information! But if there is anyone that can specificly help me with muscles that would be great...

How do you remember the names of all the muscles

I don't know what to do, I just cannot get them to stick in my head! There are so many and I know once I am working and actively talking about them i'll remember them but this is doing my head in!!!

I'm fine with the bones, it's just the muscles i'm struggling with. And why do they have to be such long, hard to spell words??? I mean sternocleidomastoid...really??? For that tiny muscle??? Who named that and what kind of day were they having???

If anyone has any tips I would really appreciate it! TIA!

[Mother Goose]

What methods have you tried? As a nurse, I didn't have to learn the name of every muscle (thank GOD!) but there was a lot to remember. For anatomy stuff, there is a program called anatomica which strips the body layer by layer - this could be a useful visual guide to assist you in remembering what goes where.

Also, songs and rhymes are very useful in getting the old brain matter to recall the info you need. Try something catchy though like the mississipi tune (M I SS I SS I PP I) or whatever songs you have trouble getting out of your head.

Some names remind me of objects or people so I try and link the two to remember them.

One of my fav things though was to have a skeleton (I had a big one I got off Ebay) and would stand naming all the bits and pieces. I also had posters (I got them from a medical book store in Adelaide when they were selling them off to get rid of them. Got them for $5 a pop instead of $30!) and would put them on the back of the toilet door so I had no choice but to stare and remember it. I rotated them frequently to get all the stuff into my thick head.

But perhaps the biggest tip is to take it one day at a time. Each day add 3 more muscles to your list. Start at the top and work your way down. List everything from the top down in order and anything else you need to know (like what it does). The repition will help get it to stick. Perhaps one at breakfast, one at lunch, and one at dinner time. Repeat the list to yourself whenever your doing something mudane like driving or cleaning or cooking. Start by reciting what the new one is and then reciting your list from top down.

Hopefully that all makes sense. Good luck - and try not to stress yourself out too much. Noone (including doctors) can remember EVERYTHING about the human body... that's why we keep our resources

MG

[jackrose]

Ooooo, I love this sort of thing!

I studied anatomy years ago and asked exactly the same question: How on earth do you remember all the names of all of those muscles!!! I left the study behind as I wasn't really interested... and then took it up again 10 years later. This time I really loved it got through the course with ease and ended up teaching in the course!

The good thing is that if you get the bones.. you are half way there, most muscles use their bony attachments in their names.

The technique I used was to get a general understanding of what the latin names mean... then the names all made sense:
eg:

• Rectus pretty much means straight...

Femoris relates to the leg - the thigh bone. Hence, Rectus Femoris is the straight muscle in the thigh.

Abdominus relates to the Abdomen. Hence, Rectus Abdominus is the straight muscle in the belly

Capitus relates to head, hence Rectus Capitus is the straight muscle in the suboccipital muscle group at the base of the skull

• Sternocleidomastoid:

Sterno-sternum
Cleido-clavicle
Mastoid-relating to the Mastoid process on the base of the skull
Hence, a muscle attaching to the sternum, the clavicle and the mastoid process

• Flexor Carpi Ulnaris

A muscle that performs a 'flexion' action, at the 'carple bones' (the wrist) and is attached on the 'Ulnar' side of the forearm (compared with flexor carpi radialis on the radial side or extensor carpi ulnaris, an extensor rather than a flexor)

and so on....

Another thing I found really helpful was a colouring in book for muscles. Colouring in can be quite meditative and a much nicer way to study than reading notes etc. I will try to find a link to the book if you are interested. It is excellent.

The good news is that the more you use the language the more second nature it becomes. I remember a point at the 6 month mark of study (second time around) where it all of a sudden began to fall into place and just click! Hang in there, as I said, if you have the bones under control, you will get the muscles soon enough! HTH

[~shazz~]

i want to thank you for the reply's for this i'm 3 weeks out from my final exam for this subject and i have to say i am freaking out so any more tips bring them on

[Inanna]

I'm with Jackrose - love your work!

I am a freak who loves this stuff too - I have a photographic memory - and I can retain lots of meaningless pieces of information,,,

My tip would be to use the lingo in every day life - your leg is no longer your leg - if you gt my drift!

[Michelle71]

Yep - what Jackrose said. Most of the muscles are easier to remember if you can break the words into bits (there is a method to the madness of naming them ........... most of the time ) and it sticks in your head a little better.

Good luck

[AngelPunks]

I'm having enough troubles with the BONES!!!!!! I'm going back to do my anatomy subject next year (fingers crossed - depends on work) and I'm starting to work through the stuff I'm going to cover (got the external subject notes from uni) so I can get ahead!

[~Aveta~]

This is really a question for anyone that has any ideas to retain large amounts of information! But if there is anyone that can specificly help me with muscles that would be great...

How do you remember the names of all the muscles

I don't know what to do, I just cannot get them to stick in my head! There are so many and I know once I am working and actively talking about them i'll remember them but this is doing my head in!!!

I'm fine with the bones, it's just the muscles i'm struggling with. And why do they have to be such long, hard to spell words??? I mean sternocleidomastoid...really??? For that tiny muscle??? Who named that and what kind of day were they having???

If anyone has any tips I would really appreciate it! TIA!

when you remember all the muscles (as, indeed many medical terms) are in Latin, it makes it easier to remember.

in the back of my anatomy text it has a glossary of prefaces and suffixes, and once you see the pattern of the words it gets easier, too !

familiarity. get one of your kids or a friend to be your "dummy" and point to the muscles on their body while reading the names. in remedial massage we had life-size muscle charts to reference to while working on each other in the prac class