Which movement moves away from the body's midline?

• A. Adduction
• B. Flexion
• C. Abduction
• D. Extension

Answer: (C)

Moving away from the body's midline is abduction. The midline is the imaginary line that runs down the center of the body. When you lift a limb out to the side—like raising your arm away from your torso or spreading your fingers apart—you’re performing abduction. The opposite, bringing a limb toward the midline, is adduction. Flexion and extension describe bending and straightening a joint (reducing or increasing the joint’s angle), not whether a limb is moving toward or away from the midline. So the term that fits the described movement is abduction.