Retroversion means “to turn back” and stands for various phenomena in medicine. On the one hand, the extremities can be raised in the dorsal direction, and on the other hand, certain bone sections lie retroverted by themselves. In addition, retroversion can refer to the backward tilt of organs such as the uterus (womb).
What is retroversion?
Retroversion means “to turn backward” and in medicine it stands for various phenomena. For example, retroversion can refer to the backward tilt of organs such as the uterus (side view shown here). The joints of the body have different axes of motion. Thus, limbs have different forms and extents of motion, depending on the shape of their involved joints. Joints with only one axis of motion allow two forms of motion: the movement and the countermovement that returns the limb to its original position. In most cases, the two forms of motion of uniaxial joints are extension and flexion. Retroversion, by comparison, is a relatively rare form of motion within the human body. The movement involves the rotation of an extremity about an axis in the frontal plane, i.e. lifting the extremity backwards. Together with anteversion, retroversion forms an axis of motion. In anteversion, the limb is lifted forward. Regardless of the extent of joint movement, the term retroversion is often associated with organs in medical terminology, especially in reference to the female reproductive organs. In this context, mention should be made of the retroversion or backward tilt of the uterus, which is physiologic to some degree.
Function and task
In principle, retroversion does not have to be directly associated with an axis of motion, but can also refer to the position of a particular section of bone in the dorsal direction. This is the case, for example, with the glenoid cavity, which is positioned dorsally in the glenohumeral joint and thus lies retroverted. As an actual form of movement, retroversion in turn refers to the extremities, that is, the human arms and legs. Humans can lift their arms and legs forward and backward to a certain degree. The associated axis of motion is the retroversion-anti-version axis. The associated plane is called the transverse. The shoulder and hip joints, for example, are equipped with this axis. The shoulder joint is called the most mobile ball joint of the body. The hip joint is also a ball joint, but occurs in the joint variant of the nut joint: a subtype of the ball joint. In the shoulder joint, anteversion of up to 90 degrees is possible. Compared to this, retroversion is relatively small, with a maximum of 50 degrees. During retroversion, the arm is moved in a dorsal direction around a shoulder axis of the frontal plane in the shoulder joint. The arm is thus lifted backwards. Retroversion of the leg corresponds analogously to a rotation of the lower extremity in the hip joint about a frontal plane axis in the dorsal direction and thus to the lifting of the leg in the posterior direction. Retroversion is related to the term extension and in the described type of movement represents an extension in the shoulder or hip joint to the rear. In connection with organs, retroversion stands for a backward inclination. Such a backward inclination can be physiological, especially in the female uterus. However, retroversion of certain organs may also be a pathologic sign and may be due to trauma, for example.
Diseases and complaints
Retroversion of the extremities may be complicated or even abolished under certain circumstances. Diseases or trauma are to blame. Pain can also limit limb retroversion. Retroversion and anteversion are made possible by the shape of the shoulder and hip joints, but their realization is up to the muscles in this area. For this reason, muscle diseases can affect the ability to retrovert. In addition to inflammation, tendon ruptures and muscle fiber tears are possible causes of impeded or suspended movement ability. Muscles receive the command for retroversion from the central nervous system via efferent motor nerve pathways. Thus, a failure of nerve conduction can also impair retroversion.Such a failure or impairment of nerve conduction can occur due to compression, trauma or inflammation of peripheral nerves. Inflammatory causes include, for example, infections. When peripheral nerve conduction loses its ability to conduct due to demyelination, it is usually due to polyneuropathy, which may be due to causes such as malnutrition or intoxication. However, the cause of neuromuscular disorders of retroversion may also be in the central nervous system and thus associated with spinal cord infarction, stroke, degeneration, or inflammation. In addition to traumatically and neuromuscularly impaired or failed ability to retrovert, joint disease may also be to blame for complaints of retroversion. In general, joint disease usually affects all axes of joint motion. The best-known joint disease is osteoarthritis, in which the joint surfaces are affected by wear and tear to a degree that exceeds the physiological age limit. The joint cartilage wears away and the joints become visibly stiff. Arthrosis is often preceded by overload (e.g. due to excess weight) or poor posture. All joints can also suffer from dislocation. In this pathological phenomenon, the joints dislocate colloquially. As soon as the joint head is no longer in the corresponding socket, retroversion is also disturbed as a consequence. Arthritic phenomena are common in the hip joint. The shoulder joint, on the other hand, often suffers dislocation because it is the most mobile ball and socket joint in the body. The range of motion of a joint, and thus its ability to retrovert, is determined by the neutral-zero method.
