Video: How to memorize bony landmarks

Hello everybody! It’s Matt from Kenhub, and in this tutorial, we will be talking about memorizing bony landmarks. When you are studying anatomy of the skeleton, it’s not sufficient to just know the name of each bone in the body. In order to have a thorough understanding of how the skeletal system works in conjunction with the muscles, it's important to know that each bone as bumps, grooves, ridges and other forms known as landmarks that help identify structure.

Some have names that totally makes sense. I mean, the lateral supracondylar ridge is obviously a ridge, right? You can see it here in green. The term ridge is not so hard to remember but lateral supracondylar? That takes a bit more effort. We are going to break it down to make these terms easy to remember. All the directional terms are covered in other videos. So, just briefly, knowing the words lateral, medial, superior and inferior, will automatically tell you which direction to look for the landmark. So, in the case of our friend here – the lateral supracondylar ridge – we already know that it's on the lateral aspect of the bone and that it’s a ridge. Easy peasy!

Now, let's talk about the word supracondylar. That sounds scientific and tricky, right? We can break that down, too. Thanks to the magic of Latin. Supra means above and condyle is defined as a rounded prominence at the end of a bone. So, we know it's above a round part at the end of the bone. And look here! This is the lateral epicondyle seen just below the lateral supracondylar ridge. Epi means upon – just a little Latin goes a long way in memorizing anatomical structures.

If you take the time to learn and understand a few terms, you can speed your memorization. Terms like process, tuberosity or tubercle, ridge, spine, and condyle are used repeatedly. So, let's try a couple of examples, shall we?

Process refers to an outgrowth of bone from a larger body. Pictured here are the coracoid process on the scapula, the xiphoid process on the sternum, the mastoid process on the skull, and the styloid process on the ulna.

Many structures are named from the root 'tuber' which is Latin for swelling. We have the greater tuberosity of the humerus and the lesser tuberosity of the humerus, the maxillary tuberosity, and then we have the pubic tubercle, the adductor tubercle on the femur – remember that to adduct means to move towards the midline of the body or to add to it so it would be on the inner aspect of the bone – and Gerdy's tubercle located on the lateral side of the tibia and named after a French surgeon.

As you study, remember to keep the meaning of the words in mind. If you find a word that is unfamiliar, take time to look at it, define it and see if it gets reused frequently. If so, make a point to gain understanding of the root, rather than just using rote memorization and you will find your study becoming easier and easier.