Kinesiology 2241A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Sagittal Plane, Subtalar Joint, Transverse Plane
30 Oct 2018
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Lecture 5
Planes and Axes
Anatomical Position
● Anatomical Position is the reference position for the human body as agreed by
anatomists, biomechanists, doctors, etc.
○ Standing upright
○ Arms down, palms forward
○ Knees together, toes forward
Neutral (or Zero) Position
● For segment motion, the anatomical position may not be convenient for your analysis.
So for each joint or body position, you decide what the neutral position is.
● This is the segment or joint position where the angle is defined as zero degrees
Principal Planes
● A plane is an imaginary, perfectly flat surface
● We can imagine 3 passing through the human body, each at right angles to each other
(i.e. mutually orthogonal)
● Sagittal plane- slices you right down the middle
● Frontal plane (Coronal)- separates front from the back
● Transverse plane- Cuts you in the middle of the body- cross sectional
● All these planes are right angle form each other
● When appendicular skeleton move, the planes move with that too
Principle Axes
● Each plane has one axis, which is the line that is at right angles to the plane
● This is known as the plane’s normal vector and mathematically defines the plane
uniquely
● The principal axes pair with the principal planes
● Sagittal plane – Mediolateral axis (ML)
● Frontal plane – Anterior-posterior axis (AP)
● Transverse plane – Internal-External Rotation axis (IE)
Saggital Plane, ML Axes
● The Mediolateral axis (ML) runs left to right (or right to left) through the body
● Coincides with:
● Flexion-Extension at the knee, hip, elbow, shoulder, spine
● Plantar-Dorsiflexion at the ankle
● Nodding ‘yes’ at the neck
Frontal Plane, AP Axis
● The Anterior-Posterior axis (AP) runs front to back (or back to front) through the body
● Coincides with:
● Ab-duction-Ad-duction at the hip, shoulder
● Inversion-Eversion at the subtalar joint (lower ankle)
● Lateral flexion at the neck
Transverse Plane, IE axis
Document Summary
Anatomical position is the reference position for the human body as agreed by. For segment motion, the anatomical position may not be convenient for your analysis. So for each joint or body position, you decide what the neutral position is. This is the segment or joint position where the angle is defined as zero degrees. A plane is an imaginary, perfectly flat surface. We can imagine 3 passing through the human body, each at right angles to each other (i. e. mutually orthogonal) Sagittal plane- slices you right down the middle. Frontal plane (coronal)- separates front from the back. Transverse plane- cuts you in the middle of the body- cross sectional. All these planes are right angle form each other. When appendicular skeleton move, the planes move with that too. Each plane has one axis, which is the line that is at right angles to the plane. This is known as the plane"s normal vector and mathematically defines the plane uniquely.
