Form and Function

Alright, so I finally started studying for the next exam. Probably shouldn't admit I wasted the whole week of spring break when I clearly should have been writing blog posts and spreading out the exam preparations, but there it is.

One question: The examples in the book of flexion and extension as they relate to the shoulder joint make no sense to me. If flexion lessens the angle at a joint and brings two bones closer together, how does this apply to moving the whole arm anteriorly at the shoulder? Which two bones are being brought closer together that are not also brought closer (but in the opposite direction) by moving the arm posteriorly at the shoulder? Perhaps I am exceptionally dumb but this just does not make sense to me.

One observation: Question number 21 of the True/False quiz for Chapter 8 reads -
"The temporomandibular joint is very complex. What is the purpose of this question? Complexity is subjective. The knee is the most complex joint in the body, for example. Besides, the answer says 'relatively' rather than 'very'."
The answer, apparently, is "True".
The explanation, aka the only part of this question that makes any sense, reads - "The TMJ is a synovial joint and is relatively complex just like all synovial joints."
What the heck? I'm guessing someone's edits made it into the actual question which should just read, ""The temporomandibular joint is relatively complex." Good for a laugh, I guess.

One suggestion: I move that the entire lab practical be made of questions regarding our favorites, similar to "What is your favorite bone and why?" from the last practical. For example, "What is your favorite synovial joint and why?" or "What is your favorite abbreviation for calcium?" (I'm a fan of Ca²⁺ myself). Imagine the ease of setup and grading! Everyone wins!

I've been receiving chiropractic care for years for neck pain and headaches and have recently added deep tissue massage to the regimen to help my adjustments last longer. Like fundal massage I feel like deep tissue massage is almost a misnomer. In "massage", the recipient is peacefully zoned out on Enya, relaxed as a noodle. Deep tissue massage, however, focuses very pointedly on sliding the fascia over its underlying tissue and on stretching the deeper muscles and muscular attachment sites. Deep tissue massage hurts like crazy. It requires deep breathing and concentration. It leaves me sore for days. It inspires me to ask my massage therapist if all massage therapists are sadists, to which replies, "That question comes up fairly often." I take that as an admission of the truth in my question.

So I've been totally avoiding this assigned entry on why we're heading in the professional direction that brought us to A&P because at this juncture I'm not committed to necessarily going to nursing school. If I were to go to nursing school it would be primarily to have a resulting job that paid me more than $5K a year. (I keep telling my husband that someday we'll retire off the "doula monies". Then we laugh like crazy.) But choosing a field for its financial security has gotten me in trouble in the past, resulting in my EBT (everything but thesis) degree, which of course is really no degree at all. I have friends that are nurses and they both say the same thing - they like the actual work of nursing and hate the hospital politics and staffing problems. And I figure that I would like the actual work of nursing and hate the rest as well. So I'm not committed at this point.

But even if I continue on as a doula the information will be helpful for me, particularly in reading research papers dealing with various aspects of prenatal health and birth care. If I end up pursuing homebirth midwifery it would be even more helpful in that I think it's important to fully understand the care I would be providing, and anatomy and physiology would be huge keys to that understanding. Of course this path would have its own rewards and challenges. Being able to be a part of actual cooperative health care with a midwifery client would be great. Being responsible for providing primary care is a Big Deal, and I'm not sure I'm ready for that.

So I suppose I could say that it's not that I have no idea of "why", but have many complex "whys" to consider, and don't have a clear answer or a clear path at this point.

I have a passing interest in graphic and web design and just could not look at that plain blogger template anymore. One pre-made template featuring Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean had its obvious charms, but I settled on (hopefully more scholarly) flowers.

Going through the bones of the skull (zygomatic bone, parietal bone, sphenoid bone...) I'm starting to feel like Harlan Pepper in Best in Show, recounting his childhood talent of naming "every nut that there was" - " Peanut. Hazelnut. Cashew nut. Macadamia nut".

Why should what is mostly one solid mass have so many freaking bones, anyway? Oh right, to protect our mushy brains. I'll take that excuse under consideration.

Every time we learn new information, the opportunity arises to see our usual world in a new way. I've had a few experiences cast in a fresh light since taking this class and have a short list of items that will tell you "You Know You're in A&P When...". I only have 3 items in the list so far, but hopefully I can add on as the semester progresses.

You Know You're in A&P When...

...Your new favorite words are lambdoid and phalanges.
...You correct your doctor when she holds her hands over the wrong side of her body when gesturing toward the liver.
...You specifically curse your eccrine glands as your sweaty foot slides across your yoga mat yet again.

I had to laugh when we were assigned an entry on "anatomy in art" because I found this when searching for anatomical images weeks ago:

My search brought up this art exhibit summary on boingboing.net:

"This Korean art exhibition explores the fictional anatomy of cartoon characters, with elaborate faked-up skeletons for Looney Toons characters, anatomical drawings of Mickey and friends, and many other artifacts from the study of toon anatomy."

Despite a history with both vertebrate biology and, you know, childhood, it took me a minute to be sure that that the imagined skeleton seen here is indeed that of Bugs Bunny. Here's a link to more of the show.