hey everyone this is ben with registerednessrn.com and in this anatomy lesson i'm going to cover all the major body movement terms that can occur at the synovial joints and if you happen to go into a healthcare profession you'll probably be using some of these terms during documentation or assessing your patients and so on there are four major categories of movements that can occur at the synovial joints you have gliding movements angular movements rotational movements and special movements let's start with gliding so what is gliding gliding occurs when the surfaces of bones move over one another in a linear direction without significant rotary or angular movement the most common example of gliding is just simply taking your hand and moving it from left to right in a waving motion like this and that can help you remember that the gliding joint movements primarily take place in the carpels of the wrist and the tarsals of the foot however gliding can also occur in the other plane joints of the body and a simple way to remember which joints allow gliding a plane joint think of airplane gliding through the air so the plane joints are going to allow gliding and some examples of joints that do this are the sacroiliac joint of the pelvis the acromioclavicular joint of the shoulder the femoral patellar joint the tibiofibular joint the vertebral costal and sternocostal joints of the ribs as well as the intervertebral joints of the spine now let's talk about the angular movements and i'll begin with flexion and extension and i find personally that it really helps to think in terms of angles because flexion is going to decrease the angle between two structures as they bend or move closer together whereas extension is going to increase the angle between those structures as they straighten and move apart so let's take a look at some examples of flexion and extension elbow flexion also called forearm flexion occurs when the angle between the forearm and arm decreases allowing the ulna of the forearm to move closer to the humerus bone of the arm in contrast elbow extension also called forearm extension occurs when the forearm moves away from the arm increasing the angle between those bones shoulder flexion also called arm flexion occurs when the angle between the humerus of the arm and the scapula decreases in contrast shoulder extension also known as arm extension occurs when the angle between the humerus of the arm and the scapula increases causing the arm to move posteriorly and the joint here allows posterior movement past the anatomical position flexion of the wrist also called hand flexion occurs when the angle between the palm of the hand and the anterior surface of the forearm decreases while extension of the wrist or hand extension is moving the palm of the hand away from the anterior surface of the forearm hence the angle increases as it continues to move beyond the anatomical position finger flexion occurs when the angle between the anterior surface of the fingers and the palm decreases and when the angle between the fingers and the palm increases finger extension occurs flexion and extension can also occur within the interphalangeal joints now as you can tell up to this point most of the movements with flexion and extension are going to occur within that sagittal plane or parallel to the sagittal plane however with the thumb it's a little bit different thumb flexion is going to have the thumb moving toward the pinky kind of parallel to the palm within that frontal plane and some extension is going to have the thumb moving away from the pinky and if you think of your palm as a windshield and your thumb is a windshield wiper it's going to kind of go back and forth in that kind of a motion flexion and extension can also occur at the interphalangeal joint of the thumb next we have hip flexion also called thigh flexion which occurs when the angle between the femur of the thigh and the hip bone decreases as the thigh moves anteriorly or forward hip extension or thigh extension occurs when the angle between the femur and the hip bone increases as the hip joint straightens and just like the shoulder joint this joint also allows movement past the anatomical position knee flexion also called leg flexion occurs when the tibia bone moves toward the femur causing the angle to decrease between those two structures knee extension or you could say leg extension occurs as the angle between those leg bones increases causing the leg to straighten and just like the fingers toe flexion and extension can also occur vertebral column flexion or spine flexion occurs when the angle between the trunk and the hip joint decreases and spine extension occurs as the spine straightens neck flexion occurs as the angle between the head and the trunk of the body decreases whereas neck extension occurs as the head moves away from the trunk of the body and the neck is another one of those structures that can continue posteriorly beyond the anatomical position the vertebral column can also experience flexion within that frontal plane for example if you bend the spine to the left or to the right that's called lateral flexion and movement back toward the anatomical position is called lateral extension and then finally i want to talk a little bit about hyperextension because whenever a structure moves beyond a certain point anatomist will refer to that as hyper extension now what can get a little tricky with this is that anatomist will sometimes define hyperextension differently for example some anatomists will say that when the arm neck wrist or leg moves past the normal anatomical position in a posterior motion it actually becomes hyperextension and not just extension whereas other anatomists will only consider these movements hyperextension if the movement exceeds the normal range of motion permitted by that joint obviously for test taking purposes you'll want to do whatever your anatomy professor says but i just wanted to give you a heads up about that now unlike flexion and extension body movements which mostly take place within the sagittal plane or parallel to the sagittal plane abduction and adduction movements are mostly going to take place within the frontal or coronal plane however the thumb is one exception and i'll demonstrate abduction and adduction of thumb later in this video so what is abduction abduction is the movement of a structure away from a midline reference point and let the name help you out what does abduct mean when you hear on the news that a man was abducted you know it means that someone took them away and that's exactly what's going on with this movement the structure is being moved away from the midline reference point now what is adduction adduction occurs as the structure is added back toward the midline reference point so let's take a look at some examples of abduction and adduction on the body during arm abduction the arms move away from the body's midline during arm adduction you add them right back toward the midline finger abduction occurs when the fingers move away from the midline of the hand whereas finger adduction occurs when you add them back toward the hand's midline when the middle finger which serves as the midline point of the hand deviates away from the body in the anatomical position it's called lateral abduction and when it deviates toward the body it's considered medial abduction and as i mentioned earlier the thumb is going to operate a little bit differently because it has a different orientation than the other fingers abduction of the thumb has it moving within the sagittal plane in an anterior motion and adduction of the thumb has it added back to the hand when determining abduction and adduction of the wrist i find that it helps to stand in the anatomical position abduction of the wrist has it moving away from the body's midline in the same direction as arm abduction adduction of the wrist has it going in the opposite direction toward the body's midline these movements are also referred to as radial deviation and ulnar deviation remember the radius is on the thumb side which is where you check the radial pulse so radial deviation is the movement toward the radial side and ulnar deviation is toward the other side during thigh abduction the lower limb moves away from the body's midline and during adduction of the thigh you add the lower limb right back toward the body's midline when the toes move away from the midline of the foot and spread apart abduction occurs and adduction of the toes adds them right back together and just like with the hand the foot is also going to have its own midline reference point which is the second toe and whenever that second toe deviates away from the body's overall midline then that's called lateral abduction and whenever the second toe moves toward the body's midline then that's called medial abduction and finally i'll demonstrate circumduction which is an angular body movement term that blends the motions of flexion abduction extension and adduction to create a circular or conical movement now the word circumduction starts with the exact same letters as the word circle so that will tip you off that this movement is going to create that circular or conical movement at a joint because circumduction utilizes four different movements i like to do it in slow motion so i can see how those four movements combine to create that circular effect looking at the shoulder joint i'll begin with arm flexion then arm abduction next is arm extension followed by arm adduction and when you combine those movements into a smooth motion you can see how it forms a cone or circle this sort of feels like it could be the next big dance move [Music] and if you have trouble remembering the specific order of these movements you can remember the mnemonic fabia which stands for flexion abduction extension and adduction now you can also reverse that order and do it the other way however the movements are going to have to alternate in a similar succession in order to create that circular motion now where does circumduction occur on the body well generally speaking it requires that flexion abduction extension and adduction so it's going to occur at the joints of the body that allow those specific movements circumduction can occur at the hip joint or thigh circumduction can occur at the shoulder joint or arm circumduction of the wrist or hand can also occur circumduction of the thumb can occur circumduction of the fingers circumduction of the ankle or foot you have circumduction of the toes and circumduction of the head now let's talk about rotation what is rotation rotation is a body movement term that describes a bone moving around a central axis when i think of the rotation body movement i like to picture a screw turning to either the right or the left as that is basically the same kind of motion that can occur in the body with this movement rotation can occur at the head vertebral column and the ball and socket joints of the upper and lower limbs so let's take a look at some of these movements the head can rotate laterally to either the left side or the right side thanks to a pivot joint between vertebrae c1 and c2 now returning the head toward the anatomical position is going to be medial rotation of the head the vertebral column can also rotate laterally to either the left or the right and returning the trunk toward the anatomical position is medial rotation of the trunk you spin me right round baby right round the ball and socket joint of the shoulder allows the humerus of the arm to rotate laterally or away from the body's midline which is also called external rotation it can also rotate medially or toward the body's midline which is also called internal rotation the ball and socket joint of the hip allows rotation of the thigh's femur and just like with the humerus it can rotate laterally or away from the body's midline which is also called external rotation and it can also rotate medially or toward the body's midline creating an internal rotational movement and one thing that you want to keep in mind is whenever you're looking at the rotation of the arm or the thigh you're going to want to focus in on the anterior surface of it so the front of the arm or the front of the thigh keep that as your focal point and if it's moving toward the body's midline you know it's going to be medial rotation of those structures or internal rotation and if it's moving away from that you know it's lateral or external rotation and finally we have the last category of body movement terms that don't fit into any of the other categories so these are called the special movements first let's talk about supination and pronation which are special movements involving rotation of the forearm your forearm consists of two bones you have the radius which is on the lateral side of the forearm in the anatomical position and you also have the ulna which is on the medial side in the anatomical position during supination the distal end of the radial bone is going to rotate around the ulna in a lateral direction now lateral rotation is away from the body's midline so this motion is going to look like this and i like to pay attention to the thumbs because the thumb is on the same side as the radius hence when you check a radial pulse you're checking just below the thumb right here so when you look at the thumbs and if you imagine there's a midline going down my body like kind of in line with my necktie watch the thumbs and as it's rotating away from the midline of the body this is supination in contrast pronation is the opposite movement here we're going to see the distal end of the radial bone rotate over the ulna in a medial direction so medial means towards the midline of the body so now we're going to see those thumbs point towards the body's midline some people also like to look at the orientation of the palms of the hand to help them determine whether supination or pronation is occurring so if i put my arms down like this and you look at the palms of my hands supination is going to result in that lateral rotation of the radial bone which is going to leave your palms facing forward or anteriorly and this might look familiar because this is exactly their orientation in the anatomical position however if my elbow were flexed about 90 degrees now what's happened the palms are facing up in contrast pronation is going to have the palms facing the opposite direction they are going to face posteriorly or toward the back in the anatomical position or if my elbow reflects about 90 degrees then pronation is going to have the palms facing down or inferiorly now let me give you a really simple mnemonic to help you remember these two movements you see this girl right here at the store she has to pronate to pick up her produce so you have to pronate to pick up your produce and when you want to eat it for supper you supinate and bring it to your mouth or if you want to take a multivitamin you have to pronate to poor and you have to supinate to catch the supplement next we have dorsiflexion and plantar flexion which are special movements involving the foot and ankle joint now to help you understand this movement let's break down the words dorsal refers to the back or upper side of something in my video on directional terms i use the example of a dorsal fin of a dolphin to help me remember that dorsal refers to the back side or upper side of a surface your toenails for example are on the dorsal side of the foot in contrast plantar refers to the sole or bottom of the foot if you've ever had a plantar wart then you've had a wart right there on the sole of your foot and then flexion in anatomy just refers to a movement that decreases the angle between two surfaces now let's put those words together and you will totally understand this movement during dorsiflexion the back or upper side of the foot moves toward the shin decreasing the angle between these two surfaces leaving the toes pointing a little bit closer to the head and yes i know i have tan lines on my feet don't judge when you try to walk on your heels only you dorsiflex the foot and in nurse sarah's preeclampsia and eclampsia review she used dorsiflexion to assess for ankle clonus during plantar flexion the sole of the foot moves toward the calf decreasing the angle between those two surfaces leaving the toes pointing away from the body when you perform calf raises in the gym or walk on your tippy toes you plantar flex the foot now let's talk about inversion and eversion which are special body movements that turn the soul either toward the body's midline or away from the body's midline during inversion the bottom of the foot turns so that it faces toward the body's midline inversion starts with the word in so that's the dead giveaway that the soul is going to be pointing inwardly or medially during eversion the opposite motion occurs the bottom of the foot turns so that faces away from the body's midline laterally the word evert literally means to turn outward which is exactly what happens during eversion now let's talk about elevation and depression elevation refers to the movement of a body part in a superior direction or moving upward whenever you walk into a hotel lobby you have to get on the elevator to go up right and we'd also say that a mountain has a really high peak elevation therefore the term elevation is pretty self-explanatory it has a structure moving up or superiorly in contrast depression refers to the movement of a body part going downward or in an inferior direction when you are depressed you feel down in the dumps right therefore it's easy to remember that depression has a body part moving downward or inferiorly in anatomy elevation and depression most commonly describe movement of the mandible or the scapulae within the frontal plane when you move your mandible in a downward direction depression occurs and when you move your mandible upward elevation occurs similarly when you move your scapulae up elevation of the shoulder girdle occurs and when you move them back down depression of the shoulder girdle occurs next we have protraction and retraction which are special body movements that involve the scapulae better known as your shoulder blades protraction moves the scapula forward or anteriorly and toward the side of the body or laterally in an anterolateral direction retraction is the opposite movement it's going to cause the shoulder blades to move back or posteriorly and more toward the body's midline or immediately in a movement known as a postero medial movement now here's a really simple way to remember this movement when you reach back you retract and then you punch to protract in fact the serratus anterior muscles assist with this movement and they even call this muscle the boxer's muscle for this very reason next we have protrusion retrusion and excursion which are special body movement terms that refer to motion going anteriorly posteriorly or side to side protrusion refers to the movement of a structure in an anterior or forward direction in fact the word protrude means projecting something forward and i like to call protrusion the kissing movement because it occurs when you pucker your lips like you're going to give someone a kiss or when you stick out your tongue or moving the mandible or lower jaw forward now retrusion is the opposite of protrusion it refers to movement going in a posterior or backward direction putting your tongue back in your mouth moving the lips back or moving the mandible back are all examples of retrusion in anatomy now some anatomists will refer to that forward and backward motion of the mandible as protraction and retraction just like i discussed with the shoulder blades in my last video however some prefer to use protraction and retraction only when describing the shoulder blades because it's a combined movement for example protraction is an anterolateral movement whereas protrusion and retrusion are more anterior and posterior movements and then finally we have excursion which is a side to side movement of the mandible now some of you might remember a character named ernest p wuerl which is that guy and all those movies from earnest goes to camp ernest goes to jail ernest saves christmas etc and if you've ever seen one of those movies then you have definitely seen the excursion movement because anytime earnest would see something gross he would go and that's basically all excursion is it's the movement of the lower jaw which is your mandible in either a left or right direction and anatomists use directional terms to specify the type of excursion for example when the lower jaw moves to either the left or the right away from the midline of the body they simply call that lateral excursion and when the mandible moves closer to the center of the body it's called medial excursion now let me demonstrate opposition and reposition which are special movements involving the thumb now the thumb articulates or forms a joint with the trapezium bone of the wrist via a saddle joint a type of synovial joint featuring interlocking convex and concave surfaces and they call it a saddle joint because well it looks like a saddle saddle up cowboy yeehaw now thanks to this saddle joint the thumb can perform various movements such as circumduction flexion and extension abduction and adduction as well as special movements called opposition and reposition opposition of the thumb occurs when the tip of the thumb comes to meet and oppose the tip of another finger from the same hand now a super simple way to remember this movement is that you've probably heard someone say that humans have opposable thumbs and we do and that's what this movement opposition is all about it's about taking the thumb and moving it around so that it opposes each of the digits or fingers by touching the tip like that also check this out whenever opposition occurs the thumb moves and meets the tip of one of the fingers and when you look at the shape that results it kind of makes the shape of a letter o o for opposition with our opposable thumbs now reposition is super simple because it is the opposite action of opposition during reposition the thumb and finger return to their original position okay that wraps up this compilation video over the major body movement terms and you can take a comprehensive quiz on our website for free just by clicking the link in the description below also we have a playlist with a whole bunch of anatomy videos in that you might want to check that out thank you so much for watching and please subscribe