A bit of anatomy...

[saintlyCZ]

I have quite big problem with English words describing injuries. My mother language is Czech, and there are pretty big problems with translation. I've searched both web and classic dictionaries, but you know, authors of dictionaries usually aren't anatomists... Even if I find a bone named in the article, often I'm not able to search what is it in reality. So please, can anybody translate some expressions to Latin (I'm veterinary student, and we use only Latin in anatomy lessons) or advise where to find it?

Especially I'm concerned with following expressions: broken back, broken neck, broken shoulder... what does it mean? Any special bone or bones? In our language there's even nothing called "shoulder" on the horse. And what about broken knee? Also, what is cannon bone? I found term cannon bone when speaking about both front and hind leg, but in Czech, cannon bone is only in the hind leg. So what is "front cannon bone"?

Maybe I'll find some more terms, but these are probably the biggest problem. Try to translate "broken knee" when there's no "knee" on the horse in your language...

And also, can anybody explain to me what is "condylar fracture"? I study veterinary medicine, but not so long to know that...

[ak1]

Hi!

Here is a link to a picture of a horse with the anatomy (bones) in English with lines pointing to corresponding body part....that might help with correllating to proper term in Czech. And you are right, I don't imagine these terms are in the typical language dictionary! I know they were never in my Russian/English dictionaries when I was studying the language!

http://home.flash.net/~estracrs/anatomy.html

Hope it helps! AK

[saintlyCZ]

Helped, but not too much At least in some things, but I knew where are knees or ankles... I just don't know if there's "broken knee", what does it mean. There are many bones in the knee... Or broken neck - does it mean broken spondyle in the neck part of spine? I should probably stop thinking about it and just take it as "injury in that part of body"...

[WarHorse]

Hopefully this will help, but I'm not a vet and only have a general education in equine anatomy.

I would think a broken knee would be a fracture in any of the carpals. Slab fractures seem to be pretty common on the anterior carpals.

A broken neck would *probably* mean a fracture of the body of the vertebra which could compromise the spinal cord. A fractured spondyle should, I would think, be specified, as it would not affect the cord (though still be difficult to overcome).

A broken back would (probably) likewise be a fracture of the vertebral body - any of them, from T1 to the sacro-iliac.

The cannon bones are the long bones below the knee in front and the hocks in back.

A broken shoulder would be a fracture to the scapula.

I find the difference in language fascinating - would the "back" in Czech include the ribs? What are the front cannon bones called? This is neat stuff.