In anatomy and physiology, the body planes and sections help us understand the different ways in which the body can be viewed when cut into sections. This is something many healthcare professionals use, for example, when analyzing images from an MRI machine or other type of imaging device. When thinking of a body plane, picture an imaginary flat surface resembling a glass rectangle, which divides the body into two portions. Now there are four major types of body planes that you need to know for most of your anatomy and physiology courses and a super easy way to remember these is to remember the acronym SOFT which stands for sagittal, oblique, frontal, and transverse planes. Two of these planes are vertical running from top to bottom and these are the sagittal and frontal planes.
One plane is horizontal which is the transverse plane and the oblique planes are at odd angles. It can be any type of plane other than a vertical or horizontal plane. First, let's talk about sagittal planes.
A sagittal plane runs vertically from top to bottom and it divides the body into a left and right portion. Now this is easy to remember because on your skull you have what's called a sagittal suture which divides it into left and right sides and that's exactly what this plane does. It divides the body into right and left sides when viewed from the anatomical position.
You can take sagittal planes a step further and add a prefix to help you identify the type of sagittal plane. For example, a mid-sagittal or median plane is a sagittal plane that perfectly divides the body down the midline. The prefix mid can remind you that it is right down the middle.
A parasagittal plane is any type of sagittal plane that does not run perfectly down the midline. Next, we have oblique. planes, which are planes that can literally be any type of angle other than a horizontal or vertical angle. In fact, that's what the word oblique means. It's something that is not parallel or a right angle.
And an easy way to remember this is just remember the phrase obliques are odd. They're odd angles. And you can also think about your oblique muscles.
These muscles come down at an angle and are located laterally to your abdominal muscles. Next, we have a transverse plane, also called a horizontal plane. And this is easy to remember because it is the only plane that runs horizontally, dividing the body or structure into a top or superior and a bottom or inferior half.
To remember it, let the name help you out. The prefix trans means across. Think of transatlantic airlines flying you across the Atlantic. Alternatively, you can think of the horizon which is the horizontal boundary between the earth and the sky.
And finally, we have the frontal plane, also called a coronal plane. And this is a plane that runs vertically from top to bottom, and it divides the body into a front or anterior side and a back or posterior side. Again, let the name help you out because a frontal plane will literally leave you with a front and back section. Now, to help us recap what we've just learned, I'm bringing in my friend Jane the plane.
Say hello to my little friend. Okay, so if I were to take this plane and go... and cut my body into upper and lower portions, what kind of plane would this be? This would be a transverse or horizontal plane.
Remember trans means across and horizontal, think of the horizon. If I took the plane and went and cut down my body this way, creating a left and right side, what type of plane would this be? This would be a sagittal plane.
Remember the sagittal suture on your skull goes like this and you're cutting right down that direction. Now if it's perfectly down the middle, it's mid-sagittal or median, and if it's off-center, say like right here or right here, then that would be a parasagittal plane. Now if I turn this way, and let's say I cut like this and cut my body into a front and back section, what type of plane would that be? A frontal or coronal plane, because it creates that front or back section. And then if I were to create a random plane angle like this, or like this, or even like this, what type of plane would that be?
It would be an oblique plane. Oblique are odd angles. Okay, that wraps up this video on the body planes. Thank you so much for watching.
Don't forget we have a free quiz that you can use to test your knowledge on this topic and help lock it into your brain. That'll be in the description below. In addition, I plan to make a lot more anatomy and physiology videos and you might want to check out some that we've already made in the playlist below. So thanks for watching.