Review on 🦴 RONTEN Lifesize Skeleton Anatomical Model: Complete Guide for Effective Study and Learning by Michael Welborn

I am (and have been for decades) a clinician and teacher in whose work practical anatomy, clinical anatomy, is very important in everyday life. I have easy access to the skull and models of some other parts, but a while ago I lost the last easy access to the skeleton due to the retirement of a colleague. In my experience, three-dimensional patterns or models are almost essential for some things. For example, if I'm showing someone how to perform a long alveolar nerve block, five minutes with a skull, a movable mandible, and a long pencil is probably more valuable than an hour of video. Today, however, real human material is hard to come by, and of course its use raises certain ethical concerns. So I decided to try this inexpensive skeleton model and wondered if it would suit my needs. The answer I think is both yes and no. Everything is fine from the neck down. For example, I can show a line from a pelvic marrow biopsy or show a student where the costal sulcus is, no problem. There are some odd plastic parts but overall nothing that would prevent me from using the model. The skull and lower jaw, unfortunately, are a different story. Manufacturing process. More importantly, some of the finer structures of the skull are poorly represented or not represented at all. crista galli, for example, is dull and lubricated on one side, and solid plastic where grid plates should be. The bony nasal conchae only vaguely resemble the bulges on the plastic—not at all like real ones. And where the skull vault is dissected. To allow access to the interior, the "bone" is solid, with no tables and a spongy center that might be indicated by real bone at this point. By the way, the edges of the cap do not quite coincide with the lower part of the skull - the latter, I confess, although unaesthetic, has no practical significance. The absence of third molars is the more serious complaint. I suppose it must be very difficult to model finer, thinner structures, and while these things are important to me, I realize that for many applications they don't matter at all. In general, someone has obviously taken care of this matter. This is a very plausible articulated skeletal model of a short man in his 20's - an attempt has been made to show the epiphyseal lines. There is a hyoid bone. Each hand/wrist and foot/tarsus appear to be formed as a unit rather than separate parts, and the same is true of both upper and lower teeth. The costal cartilage and intervertebral discs (with a ruptured disc at one point) are represented, as are (curiously) the spinal cord, the roots of the spinal nerves, and most of the length of the vertebral arteries. The limbs and skull are fairly easy to separate from the body. I had trouble attaching the skull to the rest - it's easier now I'm getting used to it. Small point: The model should be 180 cm tall. Position is important of course, but on the counter it can be 15cm shorter than me and I'm about 175cm with the thing on. So: I'm glad I bought this model. It appears to be a little shorter than advertised and there are some issues with the delicate anatomy of the head. But if those things aren't critical to you, then this is probably excellent value for money.