Understanding Directional Terms for the Human Body

As with many professionals, people who work in the health care field have their own language to describe layman's terms. Even something as simple as identifying a location on the human body can be confusing to the average patient. Here is a guide to understanding directional terms for the human body used by doctors and other health care professionals.

Anterior/Posterior

These directional terms describe the front(anterior) and the back or behind(posterior) parts of the human body. Because the pancreas is behind the stomach, a doctor would say the pancreas is posterior to the stomach and the stomach is anterior to the pancreas.

Proximal/Distal

When describing how close a body part is to its point of attachment, doctors use proximal(closer to attachment) and distal(further from attachment). For example, the point of attachment for the leg is the hip. If a doctor were examining your leg, the ankle would be distal to the knee and the knee would be proximal to the ankle.

Superior/Inferior

These directional terms are used to describe above(superior) and below(inferior). A doctor would say the eyes are superior to the mouth and the mouth is inferior to the eyes.

Dorsal/Ventral

Ventral and dorsal are synonymous with anterior and posterior. So ribs are ventral to the lungs and lungs are dorsal to the ribs.

Lateral/Medial

Doctors will use these directional terms when describing how far(lateral) or how close(medial) something is to the human body midline. Your midline runs from the top of your head vertically down to the umbilicus (navel.) So the tip of your nose is medial to your eye and your eye is lateral to the tip of your nose.

Superficial/Deep

These directional terms describe parts closer to the human body surface(superficial) and further from the human body surface(deep). So skin is superficial to muscle and muscle is deep to skin.

Directional terms on a specific human body part

The above directional terms will most likely be used by your doctor to describe the location of something on a human body part. For example, if you have a cyst on the upper part of your pancreas, it would be described as a superior pancreatic cyst. If that pancreatic cyst were closer to your back than your front, it would be a posterior pancreatic cyst.

Sources:

Tate, Philip Seeley's Principals of Anatomy and Physiology, Chapter 1 pp 11-13, McGraw-Hill New York 2009