Body Trivia

Some “did you knows” about the body that I recently came across while going through some notes:

The human skull contains 22 bones: 8 in the cranium and 14 in the facial region. The cranial bones are not fully developed or joined when we’re born–there are usually six gaps that close over a period of between 2 and 24 months.

The stapedius muscle located in the middle ear is the smallest muscle in the body (less than 1/20 of an inch). It activates the stirrup bone in the ear that sends vibrations from the eardrum into the inner ear. The shortest muscle, the arrector pili, attaches to each hair follicle on the body. When we’re cold, this tiny involuntary muscle raises the hair, causing goose bumps that help us keep our body heat. The strongest muscle? Some authorities say it’s the masseter muscle (jaw), some say it’s the tongue.

Mimetic muscles are those that express emotion. There are 36 pairs on the human face. Frowning requires as many as 20 muscles, while smiling uses as few as 8.

The adult human skeleton has 206 named bones and comprises 15 percent of the body’s weight. The skin comprises 7 percent of the body’s weight. Pound for pound, bone is as strong as steel.

Humans have an estimated 10,000,000,000 nerve cells in the brain.

A piece of skin the size of a quarter contains more than 3 million cells.

The fingertips have approximately 700 touch receptors on 2 sq. millimeters of surface
area.

If the arteries, veins and capillaries of a 6ft. tall adult male were strung together, they would stretch 60,000 miles.

The temporomandibular joint (TM Joint) is the most frequently used joint in the body, moving 2000-3000 times a day.

Walking up or down stairs can put as much as six hundred pounds of pressure on the patella (kneecap).

The most commonly fractured bone in the body is the clavicle (collarbone).

The word muscle comes from the Latin word musculus, meaning “little mouse”, the movements of muscles under the skin may have looked like scurrying mice.

The heart beats an average of more than 100,000 times a day … keep yours beating, won’t you?!

Katherine Scholl, L.M.T., N.C.T.M.B
Massage Therapist
Katherine Scholl Massage Therapy Website
(315) 488-5504