Welcome to the beginning of an interesting and fascinating learning experience into the field of human anatomy and physiology. Your use of this page probably indicates you have chosen a career goal of allied health or medicine. This field is based on terminology.
Terminology and the accurate useage of words is very very important in medicine (or you may be sued). All of the words you will learn and use in your anatomy & physiology studies at Henry Ford Community College and in the allied health programs are derived from basic terms. This field is called etymology. Print the content of this link and save it in your notes or textbook for use. Learn how to define words buy using this link. Your text books will also provide the same information. Your textbooks will integrate terminology in every chapter.
Knowing your history or roots and that of your family is very important. This allows you to appreciate your culture, understand the logic and behaviors of others in your culture. It also provides a link to your past and will help to make decisions about your future. It verifies that you are a link in the continuum or chain of life. The same is also very true for the history of human anatomy and physiology.
What we know about our anatomy today is not the same as in the past. Many problems, superstitions, false beliefs and major misunderstandings litter the past or history of anatomy. This link attempts to summarize what occurred in the past and some of the major anatomists and surgeons who got us to where we are today.
Anatomy is the study of structure. Anatomy is the naming of our body, its parts, regions, surfaces, and substructures. Every little space of your body has been named. Here are the many definitions of the many types of anatomy you will experience as you study human anatomy and physiology. The only anatomy you know at the moment is probably the surface markings you have noticed on yourself. Those markings are the bumps, indentions, blood vessels we all have. Here is a link that will help you start into surface anatomy identification. Attached is an excellent series of web pages that looks at the DETAILS of your surface anatomy.
This website [sciweb.hfcc.edu] should be bookmarked. You will be revisiting this site many times throughout your semester. It is loaded with over 300 videos and at least 1,500 different photographs. These images and animations are available to improve your learning experience. The browser software you use (Firefox, Netscape, Explorer, Opera and Safari) will need various videoplayers. As you view different pages and a video does not play or appear then return here to download the required video players. All of these are FREE.
The visible human project was a federally funded initiative to take a real look into the body of a dissected and sliced male human. This link will start you through its details. Visible Human Project
Homeostasis/steady state is one of the underlying or basic principles of life. This steady state or balancing act within the body shows up as health. This animation shows the basics of this mechanism.