in layman's terms, what is the definition of distal, proximal, and intermediate?

Question

these term are related to anatomy/physiology. i know the dicitonary definition which is:
distal-away from the body of origin-point of attachment (knee is distal from thigh)
proximal-toward the body of origin-point of attachment (elbow is proximal to wrist)
intermediate-between the medial/lateral surface

i know the dictionary definition but i don't understand the meaning. if you could explain them in layman's terms with examples. it would really help. thanks.

Answer 1

distal and proximal are relative terms. Distal is farther from the center of the body. Proximal is closer to the center of the body. Intermediate is... between the other two.

As examples, you can talk about the "distal pulses" which are pulses far out in the extremities (radial, pre-tibial, etc.), or you can talk about relative positions like a fracture being located in the proximal humerus (part of the bone closer to the "body").

Aloha

Answer 2

Define Distal

Answer 3

Simply that distal means farther away, proximal means closer, intermediate is somewhere in between.
Your fingertips are farther away that the rest of your fingers.
Therefore they are distal to the rest of your hand, distal to your wrist,distal your elbow.

Answer 4

The speed of sound is approx 700mph - the speed of light is way faster (light takes approx 8 mins to get from the sun to hear and thats millions and millions of equivalent miles - you could get your calculator out and work out how long sound would take but of course, sound doesn't travel in space due to the vacuum). My understanding of the theory of relativity (and it may not be entirely accurate) is that for a body to achieve the speed of light (or "infinite" speed) you would require "infinite" energy (i.e. all the energy in the universe) and therefore would require infinite mass (i.e. all the mass or matter in the universe). As you can imagine, for a layman such as myself, that is why it is easy to agree with Einstein, that speed of light travel is not possible. Of course, noone told also those light photons that go around! The theory also goes on about: what if you were on a train at the back of the carriage, travelling at the speed of light and then moved to the front, you would in fact be travelling at faster than light speeds (which Mr E stated is impossible). Lastly, Mr E bangs on about if you were on the train doing the Speed of Light (S.O.L.) your perception would be different to someone standing by the side of the "train track" - imagine you are looking at a tree; what you are actually seeing is the light (that took 8 mins to arrive from the sun) bounce of the tree to your eyes, which sends the electric signal to your brain which tells you you're seeing a tree. Apply that example to the bystander watching the S.O.L. train - what can you see when the train is moving at the same speed as the light that needs to bounce off the train to reach your eyes? I think this is why Mr E called it the theory of relativity because of this taking into account of the relative perceptions of the train passenger and the track bystander. As I said, this is my understanding and I could be way wrong - I would recommend you read "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawkings, although I've read it 3 times (last time was about 5 years ago) and I still feel like a caveman grappling with a Nintendo DS! Good luck in your journey towards enlightenment - may the force be with you!

Answer 5

Distal - at the end ie. the finger, proximal - near to ie. your nose is proximal to your mouth, intermediate - between your knee is intermediate to your foot and hip.
I hope this makes it clearer for you.