This is the first in our Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes blog series – a simple guide to the anatomy and function of those body parts! Here’s a few facts you might not have known about your head!

The Skull

The skull is actually made up of 22 different bones! It’s a really complicated shape, and when you start to think about it’s function you can see why. Your skull has to help you see, hear, smell and taste, chew, swallow, and pull every different facial expression! You have lots of muscles to help you move your face, big powerful muscles to chew, and tiny little muscles to tense the tiny bones inside your ears to tune your hearing.

The Brain

The skull’s main job is protecting our most precious organ, the brain. We are defined by what goes on inside the brain – our personalities, our memories, our talents, are all held in the complex workings of the brain.

The brain weighs around 1.5kg, and contains billions of neural connections. The brain is split into left and right hemispheres, which are connected by a central structure called the corpus callosum. At the rear of the brain there is a further structure called the cerebellum, affectionately known as the “little brain”. The cerebellum helps to control our movement, balance and coordination.

The Jaw

The main joint of the head is the jaw; used for speaking and chewing. The anatomical name for the joint connecting the mandible (lower jaw) to the maxilla (upper jaw) is the tempero-mandibular joint, or TMJ.

The TMJ contains a disc of articular cartilage, which can sometimes click or give pain. Osteopaths can ease the pain of TMJ disorders by working on the many powerful chewing muscles of the face, and moving the joint around gently to release it.

The next few blogs will cover shoulders, knees and feet – so keep your eyes peeled!