Since everyone’s body is different and we all have different sizes in muscle, fat, bones and even blood vessels and the location of those could vary slightly from person to person, how do doctors know exactly how deep to inject a syringe.
In: Biology
Doctors are trained and practice giving injections. By the time they are giving patients injections they will have already practiced doing so on each other during their schooling.
Injections into fat are usually called “subcutaneous injections” and they are given into the fat layer just under the skin. Doctors can monitor how deep they are injecting to make sure it reaches the proper depth, and while people’s bodies vary it is the rare person who is going to have no fat under their skin.
Injections into muscle are called “intramuscular injection” and they typically target large, easily identifiable muscles. For example if they are injecting into your shoulder they are targeting your deltoid muscle, which is pretty big and recognizable target. People’s bodies vary but unless they are massively deformed they are going to have a deltoid muscle in the same location, and the same goes for all the muscles into which injections will be given.
Bones only very rarely will receive injections but if they do it is very easy to distinguish bone in the body. Skeletons are fairly standard layout as well so locating the desired bone isn’t going to be a big problem.
Blood vessels are the most variable target of injections and they require the person administering the shot to locate a suitable vessel (typically a vein) for injection. Standard practice for this is to restrict blood flow out of the vein with an elastic band which will cause the vessel to bulge and become more visible on the surface of the skin. Everyone’s blood vessels are slightly different but the big ones tend to be in the same general locations, and professionals are trained how to recognize and locate them.
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