For years, radiographers (and reference textbooks) in the U.S. deemed "deviation" to mean movement "AWAY FROM" the bone/side/surface named, and "flexion" to imply the opposite (i.e., movement "TOWARD" the indicated bone/side/surface). However, orthopedic surgeons & others often disagreed, using "deviation" & "flexion" as if BOTH meant the same, i.e., TOWARD the side/surface/structure/bone named. In 1998, Eugen Frank, who assumed authorship (or at least part of it) for Venita Merrill's "Atlas"--like Clark's in the UK, this was the "positioning Bible" for radiographers in the US--and decided to follow the orthopedists' path. Since then (and I've seen some images, etc. even on this site that concur), we are now supposed to call the position in which the hand is moved toward the ulna "ulnar flexion" OR "ULNAR deviation"... something that's hard for old-timers like myself to bring myself to do, but since Merrill's (and, I think, Bontrager's, which also made the switch) still top the list in terms of radiographic positioning textbooks, I guess we need to go along. On the other hand, I don't know if this has also transpired in the UK or elsewhere (or if it was ever even an issue in other countries, for that matter).

There's another (related) issue, too: If the hand is moved toward the ulna while it is pronated, is one moving it MEDIALLY (because the ulna is on the medial side of the wrist) or LATERALLY (because it is moving away from the patient's midline)? I say: BOTH. Anatomically, we're moving it medially, but positionally, based on the hand's being PA, we're moving it laterally. What do others think?

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