Although the body is one whole, for the purpose of this atlas, it is split into nineteen interlocking, bite-sized pieces called complexes.
A complex consists of plane-specific, interconnected skin, muscles, and joints (the integumentary, muscular, and skeletal systems) that work together to facilitate motion.
Within a complex, skin, muscles, and joints overlap and interact to enable movement.
The Complexes of the Body
- Big Toe.
- Lesser Toes.
- Ankle.
- Knee.
- Hip.
- Pubic Symphysis.
- Sacroiliac.
- Lumbar.
- Thoracic.
- Cervical.
- Craniovertebral.
- Rib cage.
- Shoulder girdle.
- Shoulder.
- Elbow.
- Radioulnar.
- Wrist.
- Thumb.
- Fingers.
Per plane, each complex has one or more plane-involved joints, muscles that move the complex directly or indirectly, and skin that connects to these joints and muscles.
In its plane and around its axis, a complex takes care of clockwise and counterclockwise motions, such as flexion-extension, abduction-adduction, and medial-lateral rotation.
Everyday movements and physical activities consist of motions that occur across multiple complexes and planes simultaneously.
Not every complex moves in every plane. Eighteen of the nineteen complexes move in the sagittal plane, and fourteen of them move in the frontal and transverse planes.
For if you didn’t know, the word complex means “consisting of different connecting parts.”
