Memorizing the bones

AusNurse2B · Sep 6, 2007

You could try and get one of the large poster's, also get some post it notes/sticky paper and cover them up and remember by doing that... Do a look - cover - repeat cycle. Stick it on the back of the toilet door, or the fridge!!

KTPMaryland2 · Sep 6, 2007

I just finished A&P I & II over the summer. My best advice to you: REPETITION! I would start at the top and work your way down, going over the bone's location, it's function(s), whether it's R or L, and then move on down to the next bone. Trying to distinguish right from left killed me every time, but my husband tells me that's par for the course, I get lost driving all the time, ha...Good luck to you!

bethin · Sep 6, 2007

This may sound anal, but when I was learning bones and muscles this is what I did: I got myself some large stickie notes (you could use index cards) wrote down the bone, function, etc and put them on my bathroom mirror. As I brushed my teeth I had a new bone or muscle to learn. I never had a problem remembering location. Also, I stopped using lay terms like jaw bone, instead I would say mandible.

aHolisticStudent · Sep 6, 2007

One of the first things my professor told us to do (in A&P I) is to not only memorize ALL of the bones, but to know their location and functions. (He also mentioned that the femur alone has around 25 functions.) Any tips or hints on how to make this easier? At this point I'm not even sure where to start! Memorize all bones first, then location, then functions or location and functions as I am memorizing each one? I hope that makes sense. Thanks!

Part of the "fun" of A&P is learning an individual process for how to digest large amounts of info quickly. But as far as another option, here's how I approached it:

1) Learn the different locations/regions of the body

2) Learn all the bones (or muscles, or tissue types as you get to them) for a particular region. For example let's take the foot.

So we start with major pedal (foot) bones [tarsals, metatarsals, and phalanges], then target the talus & calcaneal (ankle & heal) bones [talus, calcaneus], dorsum (top of foot) bones [cuboid, navicular, medial cuneiform, intermediate cuneiform, and lateral cuneiform], and finally the digital (toes) bones [proximal, middle and distal phalanx]. Later when you learn muscles you can do the same thing since you'll already have learned the regions.

With regards to what your professor is describing as bone functions you'll need to give me an example. For the life of me I can't think of 25 distinct things that a femur does. Maybe if I included all the functions that are common to all bones I could come close to that number, but I'd welcome an education as to what you've identified as the 25 functions of a femur.

By regionalizing this information you'll find yourself in better condition to copy it to the other half of the body, and to more easily understand the literature as you move forward in your class. I hope your able to find something of use to you in this endeavor. It can seem tough at the time, but the beauty of A&P is how this all comes back again and again and really reinforces the information over the course of a years study.

tonyal · Sep 7, 2007

When I was in A&P last semester my prof. broke up the bones section into parts. we had a section for the skull,one for the upper extremities, lower extremeties,pelvis. i would carry around a section at a time and just look and memorized that way. we had 1 month to have it all down,I had to know bones,fracture sites, regions once I got the skull down the rest just seemed to come. One of the girls I talked to found a small skeleton on amazon real cheap and some good cards to help.

ZooMommyRN, ADN, RN · Sep 8, 2007

My coloring book was a lifesaver! You can pick one up at most book stores in the educational section

LMRN10 · Sep 9, 2007

REPITITION!!! That is the only thing that worked for me - I used the Atlas that we got with our textbook and had my husband quiz me...it worked! Good luck - you will proably surprise yourself!

hair_tie · Sep 11, 2007

Do you have a study group? Last Fall I was in an EMT-B class and we had to learn all the bones and they took a skeleton pointed at a bone pointed at one of us and we had to name it and we did it over and over until we got it. Plus we made copies of work sheets of bones and my husband just kept quizzing me over and over and tell you what my 3 year old got to know about 75% of the human bones, thats pretty good for a 3 year old. But you know each person learns different. I also made flash cards for everything. Just a few ideas.

Jennifer70 · Sep 12, 2007

Don't forget, it is probably not just the name and knowing right from left, anterior vs. posterior, but the landmarks on the bones. --and there are many!! REPETITION. I photocopied the pictures from the book, 2 of each. one for answers, and white out the other one, that way after studying you can test yourself (Especially for all the landmarks on the bones....sulcuses, trochanters, trochlea, etc.....) That way before being tested you have an idea of what you need to work on and what you have down pat.

Just a warning though, you will probably have many pages to photocopy, so your stack could be thick.

Jennifer70 · Sep 12, 2007

I forgot to add the reason I photocopied 2 pages the one with answers on it is I found it much easier to tote those around in my purse or whatever with me and I could study something whenever I got 5 spare minutes. ie: waiting in my car to pick up the kids from school.