Human Anatomy Study Guides & Resources

There are many excellent resources available to anatomy students on the web, but discovering the best of them can be very time consuming for students.

This guide is deliberately concise to introduce you to only the most useful resources. They are perfect for supplementing your in class learning with high quality images and video, reference and study texts, quizzes and tests.

Best of all, everything in this guide is available online and completely free.

Basic

Anatomical Language Study Guide – online resource

Revise the basics with Anatomy.tv’s Anatomical Language Study Guide, which is an easy to understand summary of anatomical position, planes, directions and body regions. The links at the top of this page will also take you to their notes on joints, muscles and much more.

Arnold’s Glossary of Anatomy – online resource

Arnold’s Glossary of Anatomy is a searchable reference for looking up the Latin and Greek origins of anatomical terminology, for example: arytenoid: Greek arytaina = pitcher, and eidos = shape or form, hence the arytenoid cartilage because it curves like a spout.

UW’s Musculoskeletal Atlas – online resource

The University of Washington’s Musculoskeletal Atlas is your next stop, with over 80 clear and simple anatomical images of the upper and lower extremities.

Instant Anatomy – online resource

Instant Anatomy has a good collection of basic, summarised notes and diagrams covering the whole body including areas/organs, vessels, nerves, joints, muscles, surface anatomy and vertebral levels.

In-depth

Gray’s Anatomy – online book

Gray’s Anatomy is the comprehensively detailed, classic work of anatomy that students flocked to buy in 1858. Ironically, the modern textbook is somewhat unwieldy and expensive for the modern day, cash-strapped student. Luckily, you can access the entire 1918 edition of Gray’s Anatomy from Bartleby.com, complete with detailed images and searchable subject index.

Integrative Biology 131: General Human Anatomy Lectures – YouTube videos

Professor Marian Diamond from UC Berkeley is revered for her old-fashioned (blackboard and chalk) but passionate and easy to follow teaching of anatomy. You can watch all of the Integrative Biology 131: General Human Anatomy Lectures on YouTube. There are 40 lectures of about 45 minutes each.

SUNY Downstates’s Human Anatomy Dissector – online resource

The Human Anatomy Dissector from SUNY Downstate Medical Center is the next best thing to being in the lab. You can study by working your way through their collection of dissection photos organised by laboratory sessions. Don’t miss their online Anatomy Quiz that lets you customise your own quiz on arteries, bones, muscles, nerves and veins by regions.

Stanford’s Bassett Collection of Stereoscopic Images of Human Anatomy – online resource

Stanford University School of Medicine’s Bassett Collection of Stereoscopic Images of Human Anatomy is another great resource for clear dissection photos which are paired with fully labelled illustrations.

Lateral learning

Don’t just bury yourself in textbooks, stimulate your sensory nerves and tickle your curiosity with these recommended links:

• Street Anatomy – human anatomy in medicine, art, and design.
• Morbid Anatomy – surveying the interstices of art and medicine, death and culture
• Life in the Fast Lane – medical blog and clinical, case-based education
• Art & Science of Walid Aziz Basharyar – anatomy videos and art by a human physiology student
• I Heart Guts – who knew guts could be so cute?

These resources have been hand-picked and reviewed by Jinnan Cai, HealthEngine’s strategic director and student of Chinese medicine and human biology at RMIT University.

This article is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as medical advice. If in doubt, HealthEngine recommends consulting with a registered health practitioner.