M01.01.002 Anatomical Planes

Imagine you’re a sculptor meticulously creating a human body model out of clay. To describe the precise location of different structures within your masterpiece, you’d need a special reference system. That’s where anatomical planes come in!

These are imaginary flat surfaces that we use to section the human body for better understanding and communication. We primarily use the body in the anatomical position – standing upright, arms at sides, and palms facing forward – as a standardized reference point.

There are three main anatomical planes you’ll encounter frequently:

1. Sagittal Plane: This vertical plane slices the body lengthwise, like cutting a loaf of bread in half. There’s a special type of sagittal plane called the median sagittal plane that divides the body perfectly into right and left halves, just like that perfect midline cut on your bread.
2. Coronal Plane (Frontal Plane): Another vertical plane, but this time it cuts the body front-to-back, like dividing the bread into front (anterior) and back (posterior) slices. Imagine this as a vertical slice separating the frosting from the rest of the cake.
3. Transverse Plane (Axial Plane): This horizontal plane cuts across the body, like placing a flat surface on the bread and cutting horizontally. It separates the body into upper (superior) and lower (inferior) portions, just like separating the top layer of the bread from the bottom. Transverse planes are sometimes also called transaxial planes or axial planes.