Upper extremity projections

Well, since this blog is supposed to be about my experiences in Radiography school, I suppose I should actually write about that for once. :-)

This Monday will be the start of my 4th week in the Radiography Program. So far I really enjoy class and studying, as weird as that sounds. Of course not all of it is fun and games......stupid algebra, but a lot of the information is very interesting to me. My favorite class right now is my Positioning class. I have talked about it in previous posts. We have progressed from just talking about general body positions (e.g. supine, prone, recumbent, etc) and getting to know the various planes of the body (e.g. sagittal, transverse, coronal, etc) to learning the proper positioning of the upper extremities for several different projections.

You would not believe the number of positions the hand and wrist can get into. We will have to memorize all the positions for the upper extremities (including phalanges, metacarpals, carpals, radius, ulna and humerus) and then demonstrate them to our instructor during the "lab proficiency" exam. The carpals are the hardest so far. There are several different views for the carpal bones depending on which bone the doctor thinks in broken.

Anyway, it has been challenging but fun at the same time. In A&P we are learning about cell structure and function, which is a little harder for me to get my mind around. I usually think and remember things in pictures, so recalling how to position the wrist for an PA projection of the scaphoid bone is easier to remember than how ribosomes synthesize proteins during translation. But with enough studying I know I will eventually be able to pound it all into my teeny tiny brain somehow. :-)