1.2 Describe anatomy and physiology in relation to the healthcare activity

This guide will help you answer 1.2 Describe anatomy and physiology in relation to the healthcare activity.

Anatomy studies the body’s structure. Physiology explains how the body’s parts function and interact. These two subjects support every healthcare activity. Knowing how the body is built and how it works helps healthcare staff give safe and effective care.

Healthcare activity could be anything from giving a bath to a patient, feeding someone, taking blood pressure, or helping a person with breathing difficulties. Every activity depends on a clear grasp of the relevant body structures and functions.

For example, when helping a patient to move between bed and chair, you need to know about bones, muscles, and joints. When you monitor blood pressure, you draw on your knowledge of the heart and blood vessels.

The Musculoskeletal System

The musculoskeletal system includes bones, muscles, joints, tendons, and ligaments. This system gives shape to the body and allows movement. You use this system every time you walk, lift, or support someone.

Bones

The human body has 206 bones. Long bones, such as the femur (thigh bone), support weight and help you move. Flat bones, such as the skull, protect organs. Joints are where bones meet, and they let parts of the body bend, straighten, or rotate.

Muscles

Muscles move bones by contracting and relaxing. Muscles work in groups. When one contracts, the other relaxes. This lets you bend and straighten joints smoothly.

Joints

Joints come in different types:

• Hinge joints, such as the knee and elbow, let you bend or straighten.
• Ball-and-socket joints, such as the shoulder and hip, let you move in many directions.
• Fixed joints, such as those in the skull, do not move.

Tendons and Ligaments

Tendons connect muscles to bones. Ligaments link bones to each other, adding strength to joints.

How the Musculoskeletal System Relates to Healthcare

When you help someone to stand or move, you rely on how bones, muscles, and joints work. Poor handling may lead to falls or injuries, often affecting the back, hip, or leg bones. Understanding joint movement helps prevent pain and harm for both the worker and the person being cared for.

Immobilising a limb after a fracture, providing physical therapy, or supporting someone with arthritis all draw on your knowledge of this system. Conditions like osteoporosis or muscle wastage can make movement difficult. You then have to adapt how you support and care for people.

The Cardiovascular System

The cardiovascular system moves blood through the body. It consists of the heart, blood vessels, and blood. This system delivers oxygen and nutrients to tissues and removes waste products.

The Heart

The heart is a muscular organ. It pumps blood in a regular rhythm. Chambers called atria receive blood, while ventricles pump blood out.

• The right side of the heart sends blood to the lungs.
• The left side pumps blood around the body.

Blood Vessels

There are three main types:

• Arteries carry blood away from the heart.
• Veins carry blood back to the heart.
• Capillaries are tiny vessels where nutrients and gases swap between blood and body cells.

Blood

Blood contains:

• Red blood cells (carry oxygen)
• White blood cells (fight infection)
• Platelets (help clotting)
• Plasma (fluid with nutrients and waste)

How the Cardiovascular System Relates to Healthcare

You might measure pulse, monitor blood pressure, or help someone with a heart condition. When positioning someone in bed, you consider if they have swelling in the legs or trouble breathing, often caused by heart failure.

After surgery or during immobility, there is a risk of blood clots. Healthcare workers help by encouraging movement and using equipment that supports blood circulation.

Recognising poor circulation, such as bluish lips or cold fingers, can prompt urgent actions, such as informing a nurse or doctor.

The Respiratory System

The respiratory system brings oxygen into the body and removes carbon dioxide. Breathing is essential for life.

The Lungs

The lungs sit in your chest behind the ribcage. They are soft and spongy. Air comes in through the nose or mouth, travels down the windpipe (trachea), and enters the lungs via branching tubes (bronchi).

Gas Exchange

Tiny air sacs in the lungs (alveoli) allow oxygen to move from the lungs to the blood and carbon dioxide to move from the blood to the lungs for breathing out.

Breathing

Muscles like the diaphragm and intercostal muscles (between the ribs) help breathing in and out.

How the Respiratory System Relates to Healthcare

If someone is breathless, the position you choose, for example, sitting upright, can help. Oxygen treatment and inhalers need you to understand how air gets into the lungs. Drawing blood to check oxygen levels uses your knowledge of this system.

Noticing coughing, blue lips, or wheezing helps you act quickly. In people with chronic lung diseases (like asthma or COPD), you take extra steps to support breathing.

The Digestive System

The digestive system turns food into energy and nutrients.

Main Parts

• Mouth: Chews and mixes food with saliva.
• Oesophagus: Food pipe carrying food to the stomach.
• Stomach: Breaks down food with acid and enzymes.
• Small intestine: Absorbs nutrients.
• Large intestine (colon): Removes water and forms poo.
• Rectum and anus: Control removal of waste.

How the Digestive System Relates to Healthcare

Providing food, drink, or supporting people with difficulty eating uses this knowledge. You assist people with tube feeding or help manage issues like constipation or diarrhoea.

You monitor if someone can swallow safely or if they have reflux. Good food and drink support proper nutrition, wound healing, and recovery.

Understanding the signs of dehydration or malnutrition is key in preventing more serious problems.

The Urinary System

This system removes waste and keeps fluid and salt balance.

Main Parts

• Kidneys: Filter blood and make urine.
• Ureters: Tubes carrying urine to the bladder.
• Bladder: Stores urine.
• Urethra: Tube urine passes through when leaving the body.

How the Urinary System Relates to Healthcare

Helping with toileting, changing continence pads, and providing catheter care uses this knowledge. You watch urine colour, the amount passed, and signs of infection.

Supporting people after surgery or with kidney problems means you need to spot issues like swelling, poor output, or pain passing urine. This lets care staff act quickly if something is wrong.

The Nervous System

The nervous system controls and coordinates body functions. It has two main parts: the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) and the peripheral nervous system (nerves outside the brain and spinal cord).

Brain

The brain manages thoughts, memory, movement, and senses. The spinal cord sends messages between the brain and body.

Nerves

Nerves branch out across the body to carry messages. They make movement and sensation possible.

How the Nervous System Relates to Healthcare

Supporting someone who has had a stroke, epilepsy, or dementia depends on understanding how nerves and the brain work. Falls, confusion, or loss of movement must get prompt attention.

You may help with swallowing, communication, or positioning to prevent pressure sores. Recognising changes, such as lack of alertness or sudden weakness, means you act without delay.

The Reproductive System

This system allows people to have children and regulates some hormones.

Female Reproductive System

Includes the ovaries (release eggs), fallopian tubes (carry eggs), womb (uterus), and vagina.

Male Reproductive System

Includes the testes (make sperm), sperm ducts, and penis.

How the Reproductive System Relates to Healthcare

Care workers support people with menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth, or menopause. You might care for men with prostate concerns or women with gynaecological conditions.

Supporting dignity and privacy is always important.

The Endocrine System

This system produces hormones (chemical messengers) to control body functions.

Major Glands

• Pituitary gland (controls other glands)
• Thyroid gland (regulates metabolism)
• Adrenal glands (respond to stress)
• Pancreas (controls blood sugar)

Hormones

Hormones move via blood to organs. Insulin, produced by the pancreas, helps control blood sugar.

How the Endocrine System Relates to Healthcare

You support people with diabetes by monitoring blood sugar, giving insulin, or guiding them about healthy eating.

Watching for signs of high or low blood sugar is important. In people with thyroid conditions, you spot signs like tiredness, weight changes, or mood swings.

The Immune System

The immune system protects the body from infection and disease.

Key Features

• White blood cells, which fight germs
• Lymphatic system, carrying immune cells and removing waste

How the Immune System Relates to Healthcare

Handwashing, infection control, and using gloves and aprons are based on how the immune system works.

Supporting those having cancer treatment or living with immune problems means taking extra care to stop the spread of germs.

Watching for fever, sore throat, unexplained bruising, or other signs of infection means you can act early.

The Integumentary System

This system consists of skin, hair, nails, and glands. It protects the body, controls temperature, and helps us sense the world around us.

Skin Layers

• Epidermis: Outermost layer
• Dermis: Contains nerves, blood vessels, and glands
• Subcutaneous layer: Fat and connective tissue

How the Integumentary System Relates to Healthcare

You prevent pressure ulcers by turning people who cannot move and keeping the skin clean and dry.

Spotting redness, blisters, or broken skin helps prevent infections or more serious problems. Hair and nail care adds to people’s comfort and well-being.

Application Example: Taking Blood Pressure

Taking blood pressure uses knowledge of the heart (cardiovascular system) and arteries. You place a cuff on the arm, inflate it, and listen to the pulse as the cuff deflates.

A high reading may suggest heart problems or stress. A low reading could point to dehydration or internal bleeding. Knowing these facts helps you support the person effectively and report accurately.

Application Example: Assisting With Mobility

When helping someone stand, walk, or transfer from bed to chair, you use what you know about bones, muscles, and joints (musculoskeletal system). You take care not to twist the back or put strain on joints.

You help the person maintain dignity. You use equipment, such as hoists or walking frames, to keep both yourself and the person safe. Looking out for signs of pain or discomfort means you act to prevent injuries.

Application Example: Supporting Someone With Diabetes

Diabetes affects how the body controls sugar, mainly involving the endocrine system (pancreas and insulin). A care worker assists with meals, encourages regular blood sugar monitoring, and observes for signs of high or low blood sugar.

Eating at regular times, watching for dizziness, or sudden confusion helps support their well-being.

Application Example: Preventing Pressure Ulcers

This activity relates to the skin (integumentary system), but also to blood supply (cardiovascular system) and movement (musculoskeletal system). By turning people who cannot move, giving good nutrition and keeping the skin dry, pressure injuries are avoided.

Observing skin for red or broken areas and reporting changes supports early treatment.

Final Thoughts

Anatomy and physiology explain how the body is built and how it works. Every healthcare activity is linked to this knowledge. Feeding, washing, moving, treating illness, or giving emotional support all connect to how body systems function.

Using simple language, respecting dignity, and being observant are key in all care work. Knowing anatomy and physiology helps you provide good care and adapt to people’s needs day to day.

The body’s systems are not separate—they work together. Changes in one system often affect others. Workers who understand this give safer, more personal care.

Speak up if you notice changes. Use your knowledge to explain what you see to nurses or doctors. Always follow your training and policies.

Your understanding of anatomy and physiology makes a real difference in people’s lives.