Introduction, An Introduction to the Human Body | Anatomy and Physiology 2e

Learning objectives

Blood Pressure

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Original figure description: This photo shows a nurse taking a woman’s blood pressure with a blood pressure cuff. The nurse is pumping the cuff with her right hand and holding a stethoscope on the patient’s arm with her left hand.

A proficiency in anatomy and physiology is fundamental to any career in the health professions. (credit: Bryan Mason/flickr)

Though you may approach a course in anatomy and physiology strictly as a requirement for your field of study, the knowledge you gain in this course will serve you well in many aspects of your life. An understanding of anatomy and physiology is not only fundamental to any career in the health professions, but it can also benefit your own health. Familiarity with the human body can help you make healthful choices and prompt you to take appropriate action when signs of illness arise. Your knowledge in this field will help you understand news about nutrition, medications, medical devices, and procedures and help you understand genetic or infectious diseases. At some point, everyone will have a problem with some aspect of their body and your knowledge can help you to be a better parent, spouse, partner, friend, colleague, or caregiver.

This chapter begins with an overview of anatomy and physiology and a preview of the body regions and functions. It then covers the characteristics of life and how the body works to maintain stable conditions. It introduces a set of standard terms for body structures and for planes and positions in the body that will serve as a foundation for more comprehensive information covered later in the text. It ends with examples of medical imaging used to see inside the living body.

Attribution. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, OpenStax, Rice University, and the original contributing authors credited in the preface. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. CC BY 4.0. Original book at OpenStax ↗. EvidenceHelix text edition adapted from the pinned OpenStax source: CNXML converted to HTML; original prose, learning objectives, tables, exercises, glossary and captions retained. Images are not reproduced; external figure links and descriptions replace them. This is not the original full illustrated edition. No new scientific content was added. Source edition content may differ from current OpenStax revisions.