Doctors use various terms to describe specific areas of the body, including your belly. Health professionals use these terms to localize pain or tenderness in injured or diseased muscles, blood vessels and organs. Your upper abdomen is between your ribcage and your navel, according to Banner Health. When a medical professional talks about your upper abdomen, she is referring to that area in front and to the sides of your body rather than your backside.
Physical Examination
Your doctor will request you lie on a table for a physical examination of your upper abdomen. You will need to remove or raise your shirt and lower your trousers or skirt to a point below your navel. Lie on your back. The physician will palpate, or apply gentle pressure with his hands, to the area immediately below your ribcage all the way down to your navel, feeling for masses, muscle tenderness or other anomalies. He will also listen to the bowel sounds in your upper abdomen to make sure your organs are functioning correctly. And he'll look at your skin for rashes or abrasions.
Other Terms
Medical professionals describe specific regions of the abdomen as quadrants. Your upper left and upper right quadrants lie within your upper abdomen. Your epigastric area is in the center of your abdomen, immediately below your ribcage. Your periumbilical area is the region around your navel.
Organs
Several vital organs reside in your upper abdomen. Part of your largest organ, the liver, is located in your upper right quadrant. The liver is covered with a thin capsule of Glisson that causes pain when it is stretched by an enlarged liver. Your spleen, which filters blood and maintains blood cells, is located in your upper left quadrant. The pancreas is located in your epigastrum, in the middle of your upper abdomen. Your gallbladder, right and left adrenal glands, and important blood vessels, such as your inferior vena cava, abdominal aorta, portal vein and the mesenteric artery and veins are also found in your upper abdomen. Portions of your intestines also venture into the upper abdomen.
Conditions and Diseases
Injuries to your upper abdomen can be very serious, depending on the amount of damage done to internal organs or blood loss. According to the Mayo Clinic, there are a large number of illnesses that cause upper abdominal pain, including heart attacks and other cardiovascular conditions, gall bladder problems, appendicitis, intestinal obstruction, pancreatitis and ulcer. Respiratory problems, such as pleurisy, pneumonia or a collapsed lung may result in pain in your upper abdomen.
