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Effect of Palpation-Based Anatomy Teaching on Students’ Identification of Surface Structures

Abstract

The study examines the effect of palpation-based anatomy teaching on students’ identification of surface structures, with emphasis on the use of guided palpation to improve practical understanding of anatomical landmarks and structures that can be located through the body surface. Palpation provides students with direct tactile experience of bones, muscles, tendons, joints, and other accessible structures and may strengthen the connection between theoretical anatomical knowledge and practical identification skills. The approach may also improve students’ spatial awareness and understanding of the relationship between surface features and underlying anatomical structures. The study will assess students’ ability to identify selected surface structures before and after exposure to structured palpation-based anatomy teaching. The specific objectives will include determining students’ baseline ability to identify surface structures, providing guided palpation activities for selected anatomical regions, assessing students’ identification skills following the teaching intervention, and comparing students’ performance before and after the intervention. A quasi-experimental research design will be adopted for the study. An appropriate sample of undergraduate students will be selected using a suitable sampling technique and exposed to structured palpation-based anatomy teaching. The practical sessions will involve identification of selected bony landmarks, muscles, tendons, joints, and other accessible surface structures through guided palpation, observation, anatomical models, diagrams, and instructor demonstrations. Data will be collected using standardized practical identification assessments and analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation, with appropriate inferential tests applied where necessary. The study is expected to reveal improved ability among students to identify surface structures following exposure to palpation-based teaching. Students may demonstrate greater accuracy in locating prominent bony landmarks, superficial muscles, joints, and tendons, while structures that are deeper, less distinct, or closely related to surrounding tissues may remain more difficult to identify. Improvements in students’ spatial awareness, confidence, and ability to relate palpable structures to underlying anatomy may also be observed. The findings will be useful to anatomists, anatomy educators, clinical skills instructors, medical students, physiotherapy students, nursing students, and other healthcare trainees involved in practical anatomical and physical examination training. The study may provide useful information on the value of tactile learning in strengthening students’ understanding of surface anatomy and may assist educators in developing practical teaching activities that complement conventional lectures, diagrams, models, and specimen-based instruction. The study will conclude by determining the effect of palpation-based anatomy teaching on students’ identification of surface structures. It is recommended that supervised palpation activities should be incorporated into practical anatomy teaching, with appropriate attention to anatomical accuracy, student comfort, professional conduct, and feedback during practical sessions. Further studies involving larger and more diverse student populations should be conducted to provide additional evidence on the effectiveness of palpation-based approaches in anatomy education.

Keywords: Palpation-based anatomy teaching, surface structure identification, surface anatomy, anatomy education, undergraduate students, anatomical landmarks, practical anatomy, palpation, anatomical structures, tactile learning, clinical anatomy, spatial awareness, practical identification, anatomy teaching, medical education.