- Main features
- When is it used?
- In body
- In the brain
- Other planes
- - Sagittal or lateral plane
- - Horizontal, transverse or axial plane
- - Oblique plane
- References
The frontal or coronal plane is an anatomical plane that divides the human body into two halves, to facilitate its study and understanding of the position and location of organs and systems. From this division an anterior or ventral half is generated, and a posterior or dorsal half.
To understand what the coronal plane or frontal plane is in the human body, it is necessary to determine the anatomical position of a body. An individual is in a neutral anatomical position when standing, gazing straight ahead and arms along the sides of the body.
Also, your palms are facing forward, your legs are together, and your knees are straight. For their part, the feet point slightly outwards.
The ventral section refers to the front or front of the body, while the dorsal section corresponds to the back or back of the body.
The coronal plane allows to establish the descriptive positional terms necessary to indicate the regions and anatomical characteristics of a body, as well as to determine the type of movement according to the imaginary central line.
Main features
The coronal plane belongs to the set of longitudinal planes of human anatomy, it is clearly identified by the following characteristics:
- Imaginary line that cuts to both shoulders of the body.
- It is parallel to the frontal suture of the skull.
- It passes through the cranial suture.
- It forms a right angle with the sagittal plane.
- There are movements that are made to one side or the other.
- Observation of movements in this plane is done from the front or back view of it.
When is it used?
It is used to be able to adequately specify the anatomical location of the parts of the body in relation to others.
Medical imaging techniques - such as ultrasound, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging or PET scans - are one of the main applications where the use of anatomical planes is necessary.
In body
Not only does it allow you to locate the position of body parts, but it also allows you to determine the way the body moves.
In this case, the movements in the frontal plane are identified by making an imaginary central line observing the movement: if the movement moves away from the central line, we speak of abduction; in case of movement towards the center of the imaginary line, it is called adduction.
In the brain
The frontal plane, as well as the body, divides the brain into an anterior and a posterior section. It is created by cutting the brain parallel to the longitudinal axis of the body and perpendicular to the ground; that is, in an upright position in a person in a neutral anatomical position.
The brain has a three-dimensional structure; that means that each part of it is located in the XYZ plane. The relative position and direction of brain structures are described with special words. For example, we can say that the frontal lobe is "rostral" to the occipital lobe.
As a result of the determination of the anatomical planes, the basic principles are derived for the clear identification of the parts of the human body, as well as its movements. Hence the importance of its study as a fundamental basis in human anatomy courses.
Other planes
- Sagittal or lateral plane
It is delimited by the high and deep dimensions.
It is a plane with vertical and anteroposterior direction; that is, it crosses the body's longitudinal axis and, therefore, divides it into a right half and a left half. These two halves are completely asymmetrical.
- Horizontal, transverse or axial plane
It is a transversal plane, perpendicular to the two previous ones, that divides the body into an upper half and a lower half.
- Oblique plane
It is delimited by the width and depth dimensions. Little used, it is a plane with a vertical direction, anteroposterior and from right to left or from left to right, which divides the human body into two oblique halves.
References
- Boundless Anatomy and Physiology._ Mapping the Body._ Taken from courses.lumenlearning.com
- BC OPEN TEXTBOOKS._ Anatomy and Physiology._ Anatomical Terminology._ Taken from opentextbc.ca
- The Ruiz Liard Card. Human anatomy. 4th Edition. Volume 1. Editorial Médica Panamericana. General XIII-XV.
- Courtney Smith. Anatomy and Physiology Anatomical planes and cavities. Oct, 13 of 2007. Recovered from: visiblebody.com
- Anatomy body plans and sections. 07/01/2012. Recovered from: memorize.com