Re: Looking through anatomy pictures...

[Guest guest]

I have several human anatomy books - most written for children's

education. I've also spent hours at the library and book store

looking over anatomy books. My very favorite (although not written

for kids - I'm using it with them) is Trail Guide to the Body. Mike

recommended it to me and I have to agree and pass on the

recommendation.

I bought my online - its $50.

> ....brings me to the conclusion it's probably the adductor longus

I'm talking

> about. I'm not sure about that, because I'm going from clipart and

not an

> anatomy source.

>

> Obviously I need an anatomy text, so I can communicate more

clearly. Any

> particular recommendations?

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

I have several human anatomy books - most written for children's

education. I've also spent hours at the library and book store

looking over anatomy books. My very favorite (although not written

for kids - I'm using it with them) is Trail Guide to the Body. Mike

recommended it to me and I have to agree and pass on the

recommendation.

I bought my online - its $50.

> ....brings me to the conclusion it's probably the adductor longus

I'm talking

> about. I'm not sure about that, because I'm going from clipart and

not an

> anatomy source.

>

> Obviously I need an anatomy text, so I can communicate more

clearly. Any

> particular recommendations?

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

....brings me to the conclusion it's probably the adductor longus I'm

talking about. I'm not sure about that, because I'm going from

clipart and not an anatomy source.

Obviously I need an anatomy text, so I can communicate more clearly.

Any particular recommendations?

------------

First, you don't need an anatomy text so you " can communicate more

clearly. " In spite of my having some fun by pulling your chain

yesterday (or string), you obviously communicated just fine because

we didn't have any trouble sorting through and figuring it out.

Getting something to broaden your understanding and knowledge of

your own body, however, is an entirely different matter and

something I highly encourage. I encourage it for anyone for no other

reason than that the " professionals " we are forced to rely on don't

always do a stirling job of explaining things to us. Knowledge,

however, can be a two-edged sword depending on how professional the

attitude is of the professional you are dealing with. I have

personally experienced both extremes of the scale. On the low end, I

was accused of self-diagnosing, practically thrown out of the

office, and never went back. On the high end, I have been

told " Great! You're my favorite kind of patient - someone who

understands what I'm talking about. "

Second, let's go back to your description this morning

" The best description I can give is: when I tighten my thigh, the

muscle/tendon/ that seems to anchor right into the base of the

(unmentionable), then runs down the inside of the thigh disappearing

under the thigh muscles, to come into the knee on the inside. "

The critical clue here is about it coming into the knee on the

inside. Adductor longus doesn't do that. Gracilis and Longus both

originate in the same general area (close but not exact). The big

difference is insertion point. Gracilis does insert on the inside

of the tibia below the knee. Longus, however, inserts on " the

medial lip of linea aspera " – just fancy ass words for the medial

side of the middle of the femur. Actually, it inserts at about the

50-70 percent line, counting from the pubic area. Point is, it

inserts well above the knee. The other distinction is that Gracilis

does have that stringy, wiry, ropy characteristic where Longus is a

much broader, flatter muscle. Still sounds more like Gracilis.

Doesn't really matter which, however, for treatment. Both of them

are part of the adductor group, along with Adductor Magnus, Adductor

Brevis, and Pectinius – five muscles total for the full group. The

treatment technique I posted this morning will work all five

simultaneously. It won't isolate one versus the rest – it will work

all of them at the same time.

As for a book recommendation, it depends on what you want it for and

what you plan on doing with it. There are really three different

ways you can go (and I will touch on all of them). You can go with

just Anatomy, Anatomy and Physiology, or Kineseology. Your best

choice depends on what you are going to do with the book(s).

If you are looking for something with good plates/drawings/pictures

of body parts, then a basic Anatomy book is the way to go. The

three best are Netter's " Atlas of Human Anatomy, " " Grant's

Dissector, " and Clementine's. I can't think of the exact title on

Clementine and when I do a search on amazon.com I get 43,540 hits

just for the one word. All three are very commonly used in medical

schools and nursing programs. I personally have both Netter's and

Grant's. I like Netter better than Grant's but both are good. I

don't have Clementine simply because I don't need three. They are

excellent if all you are after are pictures. They do nothing,

however, on explaining anything about why or how anything works or

functions.

If you are interested in adding knowledge about the human body in

general – nervous system, endocrine, circulatory etc etc etc, then a

good Anatomy and Physiology book is the way to go. There are too

many good ones out there to list. I use Marieb only because that is

what we used in massage school.

For either straight Anatomy or Anatomy and Physiology, I would

recommend you check a good used book store in Houston, preferably

one located close to some kind of medical or nursing school. Browse

around and see what's available (assuming you like browsing around

in used book stores and doing so doesn't mess you up physically). A

Physiology book will get into the details like electrochemical

actions and reactions, on into boredom forever. Why do nerves do

what they do? What makes muscles contract? Etc. You may be

interested in that level of detail, you may not. Lots of good info

but not particularly good for our investigation of Leg String.

For that, you need the third choice, a good Kineseology book that

not only shows you the muscles, but also where they originate and

insert and what actions they perform. I see where has

already recommended Trail Guide to you. I concur. There are

others, probably even some that are better. I use Trail Guide,

again, because it is what we used in school and it is a good

reference source. One advantage of going with it is that I do have

it myself and it then makes it very easy to refer to specific pages

when questions come up.

All things considered, if you decide to go with only one – go for a

good Kineseology book. I think that would give you the most useful

information.

And, if you are getting into this in more detail, I can also email

some of my class notes that summarize the muscles by group (origin,

insertion and action). I also have a set of notes that list

synergistic and antagonistic muscles by body area – shoulder, hip,

etc. Let me know if you want them.