Why did Healthline launch BodyMaps?

Healthline launched BodyMaps to help you to understand your body and its relationship to healthy living. We believe it is an invaluable resource to consumers, students, doctors and health educators.

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While many resources on the web today are developed for the typical consumer, Healthline BodyMaps was produced with you and your needs in mind. As such BodyMaps bridges the doctor-patient divide and helps you make smarter health decisions.

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How might I use BodyMaps?

While researching any health condition on Healthline, click on BodyMaps to understand the area affected by that health condition. BodyMaps is an especially helpful resource for digestive health; reproductive health; and sprains, strains and fractures to muscles and bones.

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How do I find the specific area of the body that I'm looking for?

Above every main image page is an interactive Body Menu. Click on the BodyMenu, then mouseover the area of interest to view close up and find related health information.

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How do I find a male/female version of this body part?

Cick on Body Menu, above the main image on the page, on the upper right hand side of this menu, is an option to switch back and forth.

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How do I zoom/ enlarge the view of what I'm seeing?

In the lower left hand corner of each main image is a small grey box with arrows pointed outwards. Click on that box and the image that you're viewing will expand.

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Give an example of a narrowly defined symptom and a broadly defined one? Why would I use one versus the another?

"Worst headache ever" is a more specific version of the general symptom "headache", Entering the narrow term in symptom search provides fewer results articles to research than the broad term will provide. If you use a narrow symptom and don't see what you expect, try a broad version of the same symptom.

How many health conditions are included in symptom search?

Symptom search provides results for over 900 diseases and conditions--or 85% of those diseases and conditions which are likely to be detected over a five year period.

How did you select the health conditions included in symptom search?

Our first set of health conditions were selected based on a focused review of five years of CDC survey data. From this set of 130,000 coded diagnoses, we selected 900 diseases and conditions. These were reviewed by emergency room specialist, pediatrician and a variety of other doctors for completeness.