Earlier today I was telling man friend how I thought September was a pretty bad month for me. Between school, dad drama, gramps drama and being a woman drama (that shit follows you everywhere!) I decided that I’d chalk it up to a bad month. Thankfully it is almost over and October will hopefully be less crazy. (Especially if this roomie thing works out because I was promised some baked goods :P)

This week I helped out a friend with some blog questions. Sadly she had to move her blog twice because of a stalkerish ex. How uncool is that? So for her privacy and sanity I won’t be linking to her. Just know that she’s a pretty kick ass lady because today I found this waiting for me when I got home:

Oh yes. It’s a 3D anatomic model puzzle of a muscle man. It comes with a skeletal layer, a nervous layer and, of course, muscles. There’s 46 pieces all together. It’s ridiculously fun to put together and take apart. I’m already thinking about buying the human torso and the eyeball. My mom and grandparents can vouch for how excited I was when I opened the box. This definitely made my week end on a high note!

Oh! And in other good news, my gramps came home today. He had some sores of some sort on his duodenum (my favorite word ever!), but he should be fine. Fingers crossed that’s what was actually causing the problem and he’ll be back to his normal self in no time.

Thank you for commenting on my previous post. I’m having a blast learning secrets about you all - especially you Nico and Annette!

I hope you all have fantastic weekends.

“You have a friend waiting for you” was what I heard when I walked inside the house this evening. A friend? You mean the man friend is here? Well that’s a pleasant surprise. Definitely unexpected. Before I could peel my backpack off my grandma replied that my friend was not breathing. I was a tad confused because I would think that the man friend would be quite fond of breathing. Then I saw a box. Surely he could not be inside.

The word “skeleton” typed on the side gave it away. I was surprised because it was shipped out yesterday. That was super fast! I pulled out the skull first, unwrapped it and admired it. Then I pulled out the femur, the hand, the hip, etc. No more than ten minutes went by and I had my skeleton man put together on the living room floor. It’s like Christmas morning!

I am a bit disappointed with the quality of his skull. Part of the sphenoid bone is crooked and the screws holding the top of his skull on fall out easily. Oh and I already yanked out three teeth. What? They were loose.

Mr. Bones here needs a name. Currently I’m calling him Buckwheat Bones, but I think my readers can come up with something a bit more appropriate and a hell of a lot more awesome. What’s in it for you? Well I’m glad you asked. I’m not sure yet. I still have a TON of stuff left over from BlogHer, including more laptop skins, two T-shirts, a laptop lock, some software, and other random goodies. I’m sure I’ll be able to put together a lovely gift box for the winner.

So give Mr. Bones a name and win yourself some free stuff!!

• Held a knee joint.

• Had my hands inside an open chest cavity.

• Ran my fingers along the acetabulum (where your leg connects to your hip.)

• Dropped a patella bone.

• Held hands with a cadaver.

• Nearly ripped off the anterior cruciate ligament of the knee (not mine!)

It’s totally weird that I consider this a good day right?

Note to self: Don’t begin a conversation with “guess where my hands were ten minutes ago!”

What did you do today?

Because apparently learning from books isn’t acceptable anymore I was forced to purchase this:

Honestly, I’d rather have a bag of bones in my room than a skeleton hanging from a metal bar. The hanging one would result in many startled entries into my room and nightmares.

Why this excites me:

1. The skull comes apart.
2. The hand and foot come put together as well as apart
3. Um…I’ll have a freaking skeleton in a bag. Everyone (in my Anatomy class) will want to be my friend.
4. No more fighting to rent out the bones from the ASAP office. Ew germs! Do you know how many people touch those?! More importantly, do you know where they’ve been? Just today I tried to pick my nose with the skeletons hand. I can only imagine what else goes on with those.

…Crap. I’m going to regret that. I’m just saying…they probably don’t even get washed.

Why this does not excite me:

1. I have to wait 4-5 days for processing alone!
2. I’m $100 poorer. Skeletons are eff’in expensive!
3. I could never have a dog with this thing laying around.

Have you ever tried to put a skeleton together?!

In my last post I asked you dear readers what you thought was the strongest muscle in the body is. Many of you agreed that the tongue is the strongest. If this were a contest I’d be hanging onto the prize because due to a technicality I’m afraid you all lost. (Though to be honest, you’re not alone. The tongue is possibly the most common answer for this question.)
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So what is the strongest muscle in the body? Well that’s debatable. There are various reasons why this is so. One being that there are different ways to measure strength: Absolute strength (maximum force exerted), dynamic strength (repeated motions), elastic strength (exert force quickly), and strength endurance (withstand fatigue).
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Another reason being that muscles do not work alone. It’s not realistic to isolate the rectus femoris and compare it to others because other quadricep muscles contract with it. I suppose one could argue that the quadricep group is the strongest, but then you wouldn’t be singling out one muscle and claiming it as the strongest, but an entire group. That opens up a whole new category.
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There are also different biomechanical factors that one would need to consider as well. Muscle length and the points on the bones where muscles attach (origins and insertions) also play a role in a muscle’s strength.
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The statement that the tongue is the strongest muscle in the body, while obviously a crowd favorite, isn’t so. It is difficult to find any definition of strength that would make this true. Also, note that the tongue is made up of 16 muscles, not one. This puts it into that “other” category along with the quadriceps.
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Strength usually refers to the ability to exert a force on an external object. By this definition, the masseter (chewing muscle) would be the strongest. It can close the teeth with a force as great as 55 pounds on the incisors and 200 pounds on the molars.
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If strength refers to the force exerted by the muscle itself, then by definition the quadriceps femoris (not to be confused with the quadricep group) or the gluteus maximus would be the strongest. Did you know that the gluteus maximus is referred to as the anti-gravity muscle? It is quite powerful because one of its jobs is to keep our trunk erect.
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Pound for pound, the myometrial layer of the uterus may be the strongest muscle in the human body. Short muscles are stronger than long muscles. This muscle is one of the many that assists during labor.
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The external muscles of the eye are frequently considered the strongest muscle for the job they have to do. They are constantly moving to readjust the position of the eye. It is said that in an hour of reading, the eyes making nearly 10,000 coordinated movements.
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The heart is considered the hardest working muscle. Daily it pumps at least 2,500 gallons of blood. It also has the ability to beat over 3 billion times in a person’s life. 3 billion doesn’t seem like that much when spread out over 80+ years does it?
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Some other fun facts:
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• Bulkiest muscle = gluteus maximus

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• Muscle with the most surface area is the latissimus dorsi

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• The smallest muscle is the stapedius, attached to the smallest bone in the ear.

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• The longest muscle is the sartorius.

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• The only jointless bone in your body is the hyoid bone in your throat.

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• The average cough comes out of your mouth at 60 miles per hour.

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• Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.

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• There are 10 human body parts that are only 3 letters long (eye, hip, arm, leg, ear, toe, jaw, rib, lip, gum)

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• The average human will shed 40 pounds of skin in a lifetime (imagine losing that all at once!)

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• You were born with 300 bones. When you get to be an adult, you have 206.

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• Each square inch of human skin consists of 20 feet of blood vessels.

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Ah the triceps brachii…the forgotten muscle (at least in my case). Did you know that triceps means three-headed? It’s true. There’s a long, lateral and medial head that all meet at the olecranon process (elbow). Triceps is also singular and plural. Just a little fun fact for you.
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Moving right along. My triceps are not particularly toned. I don’t require much of them. What do they really do anyway? Surprisingly a lot. They act as an antagonist to the biceps muscle, which flexes the arm. This means? They extend the arm. While the biceps tend to get worked more, it is important for the triceps to be equally worked. Did you know that the triceps make up about 70 percent of the upper arm’s muscle mass? I didn’t know that either.
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Imagine my surprise when my trainer decided last night would be a good time to focus on my triceps. She showed me a few exercises and as I watched her, I thought to myself “No problem, this looks easy. Look how graceful she is.” Well all that grace went right out the window when I grabbed hold of the weights. I’m really beginning to think she uses lighter weights. While she could effortlessly and beautifully extend her tricep back while balancing all her weight on a exercise ball, I was wobbling and moaning as I struggled to pull back my arm.
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For those of you who prefer to have visual aids, I will describe this experience through pictures.
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Notice how my face rests on the ball instead of my hand. However, if I were resting my hand there, I would be hyperextending my wrist. How is that good for me trainer lady?! Take that! The weight is also flying from my hand as I attempt to extend my arm back.
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Lesson to be learned: I lack grace, balance, stamina and strength. I pretty much make an ass out of myself at the gym. Armpits WILL hurt after working triceps. Don’t look in mirror while doing step-ups on a weight bench. Falling will be inevitable.

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Has anybody seen Human Body: Pushing the Limits on the Discovery Channel? I know a couple of you have, mostly because I made you watch it. If you haven’t, you don’t know what you’re missing.
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Squeamish folks: The show is not bloody, gory, disgusting or anything of that nature. All of the skeletons, muscles and tours inside of the body are computer animated. No cadavers were used in the production of this series! All stories are reenacted as well.
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The series has different parts: Strength, Sight, Brain Power and Sensation.
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• Strength: This episode focused on our muscles and bones. It explained how getting hit over the head saved a young man’s life after being sucked up into a tornado and thrown to the ground. They demonstrated the amount of weight our femurs (thigh bones) can really hold. What’s amazing is the amount of weight we put on our knees when climbing and running. The show also covered the use of adrenaline and endorphins while playing sports and how our bodies can ignore an injury.

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• Sight: This episode blew me away! I was practically ignoring everything around me and focusing only on the TV, which is a coincidence because this episode explained how our eyes and minds do just that! They also explained how our eyes are tricked during illusions. In one instance, a magican was performing a card trick. He began with a blue deck and by the end of the trick, the deck would be red. While watching the cards, our eyes were completely oblivious to other changes happening all around. By the end of the trick, the deck changed, but so did the table cloth, back drop and the clothes that the magician was wearing.

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• Brain power: I just can’t wrap my mind around this episode, ha! You really get a sense of just how amazing the brain is while watching this. It’s almost overwhelming. This episode explained how our brains make those split-second decisions that save our life and what sleep deprivation does to us. It also shows us how our brains switch gears when we’re starving or dehydrated. And dreams…oh man! You just have to watch…

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• Sensation: The best part of this episode was watching the Shaolin monks endure extreme pain without even blinking. It showed how our nerves and pain receptors help us. For example, a woman fell from a cliff shattering her knee, dislocating her hip. She couldn’t move her legs. Her brain sent out endorphins to block the pain receptors from feeling it. Once help arrived, and she calmed down, those endorphins quickly went away and pain kicked it. But it kept her alive until that point. She was able to crawl to a trail because of that. On the other end of the spectrum, a man was bitten by one of those recluse spiders. The pain he felt was from his body trying to protect him. If he didn’t feel pain, he wouldn’t have found the wound on the back of his leg and sought treatment. Amazing.

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• Plus! It explains how we can move our fingers faster than we can think and what is going on during a polygraph test.

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Check out the website. There is all sorts of fun things on there from human body puzzles and quizzes to interactive guides. You can also pre-order the DVD!
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Seriously, this is such a great show that provides a unique look into the human body. There will be a special encore on Sunday, March 16th starting at 3PM Central time. One of the best parts of the show is how one minute you’re looking at a human and the next the computer-animated skeleton appears and you can watch the bones and muscles work. The gymnasts are fun to watch.
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Short version: Rub my neck and you’ll receive jewels and riches from some guy named Dave.
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Long version:
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I have a love/hate relationship with my neck. For the last two months I’ve been experiencing a lot of neck pain. I switched to a memory foam pillow in hopes it would help keep my neck properly angled while sleeping. It ended up making the pain worse. I’ve been switching back and forth between that pillow and the other three I have on my bed. No luck. It doesn’t help that I’ve been writing a lot at work on a desk that is much too high. This resulted in my shoulder being elevated. What muscle does that bring to mind? If you said the levator scapula muscle, you are correct. Please direct your attention to the photo on the side.
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I really think my whole right side is messed up. Months ago, way back in like August and September I noticed a giant adhesion (knot) forming on the right side of my upper back. I can’t tell if it’s in the rhomboid, trap or infraspinatus muscle on my scapula. Well anyway, I can feel it when I gently rest my hand on my shoulder and rotate it. Its about the size of a walnut, if not bigger. Through my exploration, I learned I also have a lot of crunchiness along my rhomboid muscles. Ew. I think the work I’ve been doing has been irritating my levator. The right side of my neck is tight and it feels like they’re pulling on my head giving me headaches. I hate that I know this. I hate that I know which muscles are giving me grief but can do so little about it.
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I love my neck. It holds up my bowling ball sized head. I appreciate the muscles helping me look to my right and left. I’d be happier if it would stop hurting, just the right side! The left side is doing it’s job well and being pain-free.
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Time to schedule a massage huh? Perhaps if they didn’t cost so much.
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*The picture of the back shows where all my knots are that I’ve been able to find. They’re all on the right side, but because of the layers of muscles shown, I had to show some on the left. I’m more than willing to accept a deep tissue massage if you’d like to find the rest.*

I am studying for my NCBTMB exam to get my massage therapy license. A big portion of my study guide is a review of anatomy and physiology. While I love the subject, I have a hard time staying focused and actually remembering what I’m reading. It gets very boring after a while. I can only remember so many muscles! So I make it fun. I sometimes have the maturity of a seventh-grader and I’m okay with that. When I come across words that sound funny or make me think of inappropriate subjects, I giggle. I then remember that word because it sticks in my mind as a thing of humor and not something I forced in there.
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I figured I would share these, not only to educate, but to hopefully make you laugh as you say them outloud.
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My list of fun words:
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- Buccinator: What sounds like the Terminator’s brother, is actually the muscle that allows you to pull back the angle of the mouth and flatten the cheek area. Doesn’t sound so cool now does it?
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- Supinator: This isn’t the last of the -nator muscles, but it is the last one I’ll share. I still think of the Terminator when I say this one. But I also know that this is the muscle that allows you to rotate your forearm so your palm faces up so you can hang onto the bowl of soup. Still, I’d like to picture these two as some type of super hero battling it out for all of mankind.
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- Epiglottis: How is this not fun to say? It sounds like you have something stuck in your throat. “Ep-i-GLOT-us.” Maybe it’s just me. The Epiglottis is a flap of cartilage attached to the root of the tongue. It guards the entrance to the glottis (tee hee, another fun word), which is the opening to the vocal cords. Simply put, it prevents food from entering the trachea. Sometimes this doesn’t work and food or drink “goes down the wrong pipe.” Damn you epiglottis!
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- Purkinje Fibers: “Per-kin-gee” fibers are all sorts of fun for me to say. These bad boys enable the heart to contract, thus controling the heart rate. Who knew something so silly had such an important job. You’d think they’d get a better name.
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- Bundle of His: Bundle of his what? Ha! They’re a collection of specialized heart muscle cells that allow electrical conduction to occur more easily and quickly than most cardiac muscle. Again, another important part of the heart, yet such a dumb name.
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- Phalange: These are your fingers or toes. I love the word mostly because of Phoebe’s alter ego Regina Phalange in Friends \

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- Islets of Langerhans: Okay seriously, this should be a movie, a group of pirates or some type of computer game. Unfortunately, they just house the hormone-producing cells of the pancreas. They make up about 1-2% of the pancreas. In a healthy adult, there should be around 1 million of these pirates.
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- Duodenum & Jejunum: I love saying these two words. They’re fun to randomly yell at people mid-argument. You know how people start speaking French or Spanish when they’re upset? I speak anatomist!
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You son of an epiglottis! I hate you and your duodenum. You can take your jejunum and phalanges and go stay at the Islets of Langerhans! I don’t want to see your bundle of his anymore. You’re such a purkinje fiber! Lint licker.
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The duodenum and jejunum are probably two of the most unpleasant parts of the body. The duodenum, the first and shortest part of the small intestine, connects the stomach to the jejunum, which is the second piece of the small intestine. Ew. I once had the pleasure to explore the intestines of a cadaver. I think I could have done without that.
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- Circle of Willis: I love this. It’s a circle of arteries that supply blood to the brain. Named after Thomas Willis, an English physician, not Bruce Willis. I’m particularly fond of this one because there is all sorts of organized chaos going on in the brain. It’s beautiful to look at.
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This concludes today’s Fun With Anatomy post. Thanks for putting up with my strange fascination with the human body. Move along and go call somebody a duodenum. Do it.