Learning muscles, HELP

[Mysterio]

I have started Anatomy 2. It is indepth learning of the muscles, origins, insertions, function, structure and relationship. I have been an A student up until now. The list of muscles is growing and the testing will be comprehensive. I am having a hard time keeping all of this information in my head. I am making an excel spreadsheet, I use flashcards and my son said he would quiz me. I haven't been in school for over 30 years and this is challenging my brain. Any advice on retaining the information?
We have learned scapula, shoulder, brachial, deep hip rotators, gluteal, hip flexors and medial thigh compartment so far.

 

[Cienna]

Learning muscles, HELP

So many muscles, so little time!
I remember most of my muscles but have always had a hard time with O/I.
In practice I find that I refer more to muscle groups than specific muscles - except for the rotator cuff muscles and even then, for most clients I rarely name the specific muscle (even though *I* know which one it is). And some muscles I do not refer to at all.

Anyway - the best anatomy teachers also give acronyms to help with remembering muscle groups.

Seriously, I don't remember any of them except one that I made up to remember the deep hip rotators...

Pee gogo quick! sorry.

I used the anatomy coloring book - which was not helpful for me - quite the time waster, but might be helpful for someone more visual.
And I used the Trail Guide Muscle flash cards which were very good , for me anyway, in learning the actions of the muscles.
I also found it helpful to locate and palpate the muscle if possible on myself or classmate and do the movement/activate the muscle to get a better idea of what it does and feels like.
I also saved and studied the in class tests as most instructors tend to recycle their questions. :grin:

 

[God answers all questions]

Learning muscles, HELP

Palpating the muscles and associating them with movements will also help. Biel's Trail Guide to the Body is a phenomenal help for this, as it contains many specific suggestions for learning to palpate and understand each muscle.

For mnemonic tips, here's thread you should review: http://massageplanet.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=1903

Do whatever you need to do. Anatomy is a fundamental pillar of therapeutic massage.

 

[Bret H]

Learning muscles, HELP

First, write your one notecards by hand, rather than relying on store-bought ones. The act of writing (not typing, writing) helps ingrain things in your memory.

Second, start with one piece of information at a time. Begin with the actions of all the muscles in a given compartment, then origins and insertions, and then the innervations.

Read your cards out loud. EVERY TIME. Quiz yourself out loud, too. Tape yourself reading your cards, then play it back to yourself in the car.

If you can, draw or trace and label the muscles yourself.

Make sure you're working by compartment, and not randomly, all over the whole body. Lots of times, muscles in a given compartment will share most of the same action and innervation, so that's half the information you don't need to learn from scratch!

If you need to review your bony landmarks to remember where the origins and insertions actually are, take the time to do so.

Pay attention to etymology. Lots of muscles tell you their origin and insertion (sternocleidomastoid) or action (flexor carpi ulnaris) in their names. When the former, the origin is always the first part of the name, and the insertion is always the second part.

Act out the actions while you study them. I'm constantly having to move my arms and legs in the middle of tests to remember exactly what the different muscles are doing.

That's what works for me! I'm starting my fifth quarter now, and I managed to pull through the muscles with a 98% this way. Muscles were by far the most difficult for me of everything so far, though! The concepts in other systems are more complicated, but the sheer amount of rote information to learn about the muscles felt very overwhelming.

Hope this helps!

Kat

 

[Miss Marie : )]

Learning muscles, HELP

First, write your one notecards by hand, rather than relying on store-bought ones. The act of writing (not typing, writing) helps ingrain things in your memory.

Second, start with one piece of information at a time. Begin with the actions of all the muscles in a given compartment, then origins and insertions, and then the innervations.

Read your cards out loud. EVERY TIME. Quiz yourself out loud, too. Tape yourself reading your cards, then play it back to yourself in the car.

If you can, draw or trace and label the muscles yourself.

Make sure you're working by compartment, and not randomly, all over the whole body. Lots of times, muscles in a given compartment will share most of the same action and innervation, so that's half the information you don't need to learn from scratch!

If you need to review your bony landmarks to remember where the origins and insertions actually are, take the time to do so.

Pay attention to etymology. Lots of muscles tell you their origin and insertion (sternocleidomastoid) or action (flexor carpi ulnaris) in their names. When the former, the origin is always the first part of the name, and the insertion is always the second part.

Act out the actions while you study them. I'm constantly having to move my arms and legs in the middle of tests to remember exactly what the different muscles are doing.

That's what works for me! I'm starting my fifth quarter now, and I managed to pull through the muscles with a 98% this way. Muscles were by far the most difficult for me of everything so far, though! The concepts in other systems are more complicated, but the sheer amount of rote information to learn about the muscles felt very overwhelming.

Hope this helps!

Kat

That is probably some of the most useful advice that I have seen on the internet yet! Ha ha ha! You're absolutely right -- writing things down DOES help you to memorize things faster and easier. My science teacher in high school always recommended that us students do just that.

However, I never really thought about working in terms of compartments (areas) or acting out actions for those muscles. When I took an anatomy class many moons ago for drawing (back when I wanted to be a fine artist), I had to memorize the names of a good portion of the muscles. Needless to say, I didn't do very well and I think the advice you provided would have come in handy. While trying to memorize the muscles and bodily areas, I kept switching the names. Boy, was that irritating!

 

[Chastity]

Learning muscles, HELP

For your flash cards, it can help if you color code.

I am digging way back here, but as I recall I used:

• Green for the lower extremities (think walking in the grass)
  
  
• Peach for the central body (think "red" for heart, but the color wasn't good for writing on --- at that time, I don't think they made pink index cards, or that would have been useful)
  
  
• Yellow for the upper extremities (think reaching for the sun)
  
  
• Blue for the head & neck (think head closest to the sky)

I believe I had the anterior and posterior of the torso as two colors that were similar, but I really can't recall.

I do know that just that bit of seperation helped me to put the content in better compatments in my brain.

 

[ZenYouDoIt]

Learning muscles, HELP

What helped me the most was drawing/sketching - doesn't have to be fancy - the muscles with the bony landmarks, origins and attachments. Our anatomy instructor had us draw on each quiz and test at least one muscle group or area. The act of drawing helped me remember. I would draw them first while looking at the Trail Guide (mentioned by JasonE) and then "test" myself by drawing without looking.

good luck

 

[Alia M]

Learning muscles, HELP

I like drawing/sketching too! It doesn't have to be Van Gogh, either--a crude schematic will do nicely - just enough to pound the information in.

I'm also a slightly slow learner. OK, probably more than slightly. I'm also right-brained and visual (hence why drawing helped), so my coolest experience that helped me learn best was actual human dissection; I know that the school I went to (not for massage therapy) wouldn't let MTs do dissection but they could walk through the gross anatomy lab and observe the finished product. I've heard of some classes out there in which MTs can dissect, so if you can attend a dissection, that's the best! (If you don't think you can stomach it, don't worry; heck, I surprised myself! I spent a year psyching myself up for it so I wouldn't embarrass myself by fainting and it wasn't bad at all! In fact, it was humbling and educational

If dissection isn't possible, see if you can get your hands on a life-size skeleton on a stand. You can get masking tape in different colors and tape origin-to-insertion and call the piece of tape a muscle. This also works when learning the major fascial bands/trains.

Also, in case this hasn't been mentioned yet, try to learn muscles in GROUPS (such as adductors, forearm extensors, etc). THEN you can compare and contrast the differences between the individual muscles. You can do this with nerves and dermatomes, too.

Last but not least, repetition, repetition, repetition. Take the information in chunks. Rote memorize it. Then, try to recall it 5 minutes later, and then several more times throughout the day. When you put yourself on the hook like that, you'll be more likely to remember it. Also, it doesn't take too many repetitions to make a huge difference over learning it just once.

Hope that helps! You can do this

 

[Wilfred]

Learning muscles, HELP

I just had a flashback. I used to take my "colored flashcards" everywhere. All the time. They were rubber banded together in a pile. I would even work with them while pushing the basket around, grocery shopping. Everywhere I say... everywhere!!!!!!!!!

 

[twistd_love]

Learning muscles, HELP

Thanks everyone for your fantastic advice. You are an amazing bunch. My scores have improved.

 

[^*^Death^*^]

Learning muscles, HELP

Hi All,
I passed my final!! Thanks to everyone for the great ideas. On to the final quarter. 9 more weeks left t006

 

[cn0410]

Learning muscles, HELP

Congrats on passing your final! I'm sure you'll do a great job when your big exams roll around in two months, too!

In service,

Kat

 

[Pompal 09.]

Learning muscles, HELP

Hello,

I find drawing on myself with a permanent marker, and looking at it often works very well for me. Then I when I have a test, I look at where I had it drawn previously, and can visualize it. I just have to make sure that it is completely rubbed off on test day, which can be painful. Right now, I am learning the back, so I am not sure how I will work that one. And I don't think I will do the face muscles, either.

Use the skeleton at school, and when going over the muscle, find the attachments on the bones, and move the parts as if there was a muscle on it.

Repetition writing has helped me out with the spelling more than once. It is so easy to "freeze" during a test. But your hands will remember the way to write something, if it's done it a bazillion times. During my midterm oral practical, I had to say musculocutaneous, and I had troubles getting my mouth to pronounce the word, but the teacher knows I can spell it no problem, so I didn't loose any marks. (for that part)