Cardinal Planes of the Body

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There are three cardinal planes of the body.

The three cardinal planes are the sagittal, frontal, and transverse planes.

Each plane divides space…

The sagittal plane divides the body into right and left portions.
The frontal plane divides the body into anterior and posterior portions.
The transverse plane divides the body into upper (superior/proximal) and lower (inferior/distal) portions.

Any plane that is not perfectly sagittal, frontal, or transverse is an oblique plane.

And oblique plane is a combination of two or all three cardinal planes.

Note: Sagittal comes from the same root word as Sagittarius… meaning archer. We shoot an arrow from back to front, in the sagittal plane.