Frame by frame is really the only way to do it convincingly.

But once you've converted all the body parts to symbols. And edited the rotation points. you'd need to have all elements on different layers. Then use some tweening to rotate/move the limbs. The problem getts into moving teh parts in conjuction with the rest of the body. IE the hand->elbow->shoulder->body

I've found that you need to key frame every 3rd to 5th frame. Might as well just key frame it all in.