Proximal Vs Distal Anatomy

Proximal vs distal proximal and distal are terms used to refer to locations in the body of an individual or an animal in terms of a standard point of reference. Proximal means near or close to and distal means away or farther from the point of reference.

1 Anatomical Positions

You can think of distal as being related to distant whereas you can think of proximal as being in proximity of something.

Proximal vs distal anatomy. The terms proximal from latin proximus meaning nearest and distal from latin distare meaning to stand away from are used to describe parts of a feature that are close to or distant from the main mass of the body respectively. Proximal means closest to and distal means farthest away. They describe the position of a structure with reference to its origin proximal means closer to its origin distal means further away.

The wrist joint is distal to the elbow joint. Thus the upper arm in humans is proximal and the hand is distal. With reference to a wound on an arm distal to the wound would be past the wound toward the fingers.

Proximal to the wound would be from the wound toward the shoulder. Proximal then refers to something closer to the torso while distal refers to parts and places away from the torso.

Figure 1 Locations In The Large Intestine Proximal Colon