Gloves and Leggings
Gloves and leggings that students can wear to get a personalized feel for the dermatomes and peripheral nerve innervation of the skin of the limbs. Markings and colourings are based on Grays Anatomy for Students, 3rd Edition. The garments are one-size-fits-most and, because they are very stretchy in all directions, the markings tend to fall in the correct anatomical position for most people. Refer to Grays if in any doubt.
Click to enlarge images:
Production Information
Gloves - purchased polycotton long gloves were painted with heat-set inks. The inks were thinned down a little to make them easier to brush on. A hairdryer was useful to dry the inks and prevent smudges between colours. The final heat-set was carried out over several days in a 40 degree C oven.
Leggings were sewn up from several colours of nylon lycra/elastane. Nylon lycra/elastane is usually easy to obtain in a wide range of colours from dancewear suppliers and is very stretchy in all directions. A suitable stretchy machine stitch should be used when sewing up so that the seams don’t rip when the garments are pulled on. An elastic waistband is sewn into the top edge of the leggings.
Click to enlarge images:
Plans for one-size-fits-most leggings (background grid is 100mm x 100mm):
Pattern pieces (background grid is 100mm x 100mm):
Note: flip the pattern pieces over for the leg opposite the one illustrated.
Upper limb areas and painting colours:
| Dermatomes | C5 | Yellow, light |
| Dermatomes | C6 | Yellow, middle |
| Dermatomes | C7 | Yellow, dark |
| Dermatomes | C8 | Yellow, darkest |
| Dermatomes | T1 | Blue, light |
| Dermatomes | T2 | Blue, middle |
| Peripheral nerves | Axillary nerve (superior lateral cutaneous nerve of arm) | Green, middle |
| Peripheral nerves | Radial nerve (inferior lateral and posterior cutaneous nerves of arm and posterior cutaneous nerve of forearm) | Red |
| Peripheral nerves | Musculocutaneous nerve (lateral cutaneous nerve of forearm)e | Purple |
| Peripheral nerves | Ulnar nerve | Blue, dark |
| Peripheral nerves | Median nerve | Orange |
| Peripheral nerves | Radial nerve (superficial branch) | Pink |
Lower limb pattern pieces and fabric colours:
| Dermatomes | L1 | Green, lightest |
| Dermatomes | L2 | Green, light |
| Dermatomes | L3 | Green, middle |
| Dermatomes | L4 | Green, dark |
| Dermatomes | L5 | Green, darkest |
| Dermatomes | S1 | Purple, light |
| Dermatomes | S2 | Purple, middle |
| Dermatomes | S3 | Purple, dark |
| Dermatomes | S4 | Purple, darkest |
| Peripheral nerves | Posterior rami (L1 to L3) | Red |
| Peripheral nerves | Posterior rami (S1 to S3) | Yellow, dark |
| Peripheral nerves | Lateral cutaneous nerve of thigh (from lumbar plexus) | Red |
| Peripheral nerves | Obturator nerve | Orange |
| Peripheral nerves | Posterior cutaneous nerve of thigh (from sacral plexus) | Green, dark |
| Peripheral nerves | Femoral nerve (anterior cutaneous nerves of thigh) | Yellow, dark |
| Peripheral nerves | Common fibular nerve (lateral cutaneous nerve of calf) | Blue, light |
| Peripheral nerves | Femoral nerve (saphenous nerve) | Yellow, light |
| Peripheral nerves | Common fibular nerve (superficial branch) | Blue, dark |
| Peripheral nerves | Tibial nerve (sural nerve) | Purple, light |
| Peripheral nerves | Common fibular nerve (deep branch) | Blue, light |
| Peripheral nerves | Lateral plantar nerve | Red |
| Peripheral nerves | Medial plantar nerve | Orange |
| Peripheral nerves | Tibial nerve (medial calcaneal branches) | Purple, dark |
| Peripheral nerves | Other nerves | Beige |
Creators: Dr Latika Samalia (initial idea and academic support), Fieke Neuman (painting, patterns and sewing), Tim Moser (labelled keys). All from Department of Anatomy, University of Otago.
Keywords: Teaching, Anatomy, Medicine, Arm, Leg, Sensation, Science, Biology
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License