Enhancing anatomy education using anatomical sign language: expanding its expressive capabilities to the upper and lower extremities, face, and brain structures

Abstract

Various information technologies have been introduced for anatomy education in the current digital era, including three-dimensional (3D) virtual reality, mobile augmented reality, and 3D printing. While these technologies enhance educational effectiveness, their high cost often restricts their accessibility. Conversely, low-cost methods using everyday items have proven effective in anatomy education. The anatomical sign language (ASL) method has been introduced, and uses the fingers, hands, and arms to represent anatomical structures to leverage muscle memory to aid the retention and understanding of complex anatomical structures and provide a comprehensive and interactive approach to anatomy education. This study was performed to expand ASL to include the expressive capabilities of the upper and lower extremities, and the face and brain. The results indicate that ASL effectively illustrates the anatomy of various structures. The educational benefits of ASL for anatomy and radiologic anatomy education are discussed.