Tips for Use of the Study Cards

General instructions
Work with a small group of cards at a time. Assemble 10 – 20 cards into a study deck, grouping them by:

• Muscle cards for a certain region of the body, for example, forearm muscles
• Nerve cards and the muscles innervated by that nerve
• Group action cards of a joint for example the shoulder joint and the cards of the muscles involved in moving the joint
• Palpation cards for muscles in a region of the body

Work for the "just right challenge" to keep your concentration high and achieve "errorless learning," without struggling too long to recall something on the other side of the card. Struggling is not only frustrating, it may reinforce memory errors! Go ahead and flip the card over, get the correct information and see if you can spot a clue for your problem area that will help you remember it next time.

When you reach 90% proficiency in a deck of cards, add more cards.

When you can recall the information several times with 100% accuracy on a particular card, remove that card from the deck and concentrate on the remaining cards.

Now shuffle the cards in two or more decks and test your ability to remember the information about the structure (muscle, bone, nerve, or group action) in isolation from the ones on neighboring cards or in random order.

Review by returning all the cards to the study deck and checking your overall accuracy.

As you become accurate in recalling visual or verbal content, work to increase your speed of recall.

Building visual memory
Begin by looking at the name of the structure and then flip the card over to study the illustration. Concentrate on the illustration to establish a visual memory of the location, size and shape of the muscle, nerve, or muscle group.

Test your ability to name the muscle, nerve or group action by looking at the illustration and recalling the name.

Building verbal memory
Concentrate on the textual material to establish verbal memory of the origin, insertion, action, innervation and palpation site of muscles, the distribution of nerves, or the muscles involved in the group action.

Study with a buddy: saying the name improves memorization just as coloring the structure improves visual recall.

Test your verbal memory of the text by looking at an illustration and recalling the textual information.

Building kinesthetic memory
Study the muscle cards, concentrating on the textual material for information about palpation of the muscle. Study the group action cards, concentrating on which muscles are involved in that action.

To build kinesthetic memory for the muscle, you can begin by performing the movement of the muscle yourself, noticing the feel of the muscle as it contracts and where it is on your body. To reinforce kinesthetic memory for muscle group actions of a joint, perform that movement yourself, recalling the muscles involved in that movement. To establish kinesthetic memory for palpation of the muscle on others, practice the palpation on yourself, a study partner, or a willing friend.

Palpation of muscles requires a good understanding of the muscle’s attachments in order to understand the direction of pull and therefore, the muscle’s action(s).

The easiest way to palpate a muscle is during active contraction of that muscle.

The palpation tips will tell you the best place to put your fingers in order to feel the muscle fibers or tendonous attachments contract.

Test your kinesthetic knowledge by drawing a card from the deck and describing or performing the palpation on yourself or your study partner.

Further challenge your knowledge of palpation by instructing your study partner in how to palpate a muscle on you or someone else.

Muscle Decks
Make a "muscle deck" with the muscles in a certain region of the body. When studying the muscles, you may want to focus at first just on just the name of the muscle, at first, then the attachments and actions. Your study goals are to be able to:

• look at a muscle illustration and name the muscle
• look at a muscle illustration and describe its attachments
• look at a muscle illustration and describe its actions
• look at a muscle’s attachments and think about how the action can change depending upon whether the proximal or distal attachment is moving

Nerve Decks
Make a "nerve" deck with all of the muscles innervated by a particular nerve, for example, the radial nerve, and memorize the names of the muscles innervated by that nerve. Your study goals are to be able to:

• look at a nerve illustration and be able to name the muscles innervated by that nerve
• look at a muscle illustration and name the nerve that supplies that muscle. Think about the actions of those muscles served by that nerve.
• look at a nerve illustration and try to recall the spinal segments that make up that nerve

Group Action Decks
Select one or more joints in the body and assemble a "group action deck" of the group action cards and the muscles that are involved in those group actions. Your goals are to be able to:

• look at a group action card and name the action and list the muscles involved in that action
• look at a group action card and differentiate the muscles that are the prime movers versus the muscles that are the assistant movers of that joint

Palpation Decks
You may want to study the palpation information of the muscle cards in separate sessions from the muscle names, attachments, and actions.

To do this, assemble a "palpation deck" of muscles in an area of the body and practice the palpation on yourself and a study partner. Your goal is to be able to:

look at a muscle illustration and be able to describe, demonstrate or instruct another person on how to palpate the muscle

Systematic study is an efficient way to build knowledge of the musculoskeletal system to enable you to master large amounts of information through practice that reinforces visual, verbal, and kinesthetic learning. The Study Card system is effective and fun, allows the learner to organize materials and go at their own pace and provides feedback at each step of the learning process.

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